Bank acquisition in Houston stalls after investors fail to approve it

Hanmi Financial’s pending purchase of SWNB Bancorp is in limbo after SWNB was unable to secure enough shareholder votes to approve its sale.

While a majority of SWNB’s outstanding shares voted for the deal, the $5.4 billion-asset Hanmi disclosed in a regulatory filing Wednesday that at least two-thirds of the votes were needed to endorse the transaction.

The companies are “assessing their options … and will make further disclosure at such time as further determinations have been made,” the filing said.

The $411 million-asset SWNB had already postponed a vote set for mid-August after the companies revised the deal’s terms. Hanmi, which is based in Los Angeles, increased the cash component following a request from the seller, a spokesman said at the time.

Hanmi, which agreed in May to buy SWNB for $77 million, had already received regulatory approval to buy the Houston company.

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