For the second straight quarter, PacWest Bancorp in San Diego is taking a large impairment charge related to a string of acquisitions it has made this decade.
The $4.9 billion-asset company said Tuesday that it would take a $486.7 million charge to earnings in the second quarter that would result in a loss of about $475 million.
In the first quarter PacWest lost nearly $273 million after writing off $275 million of goodwill. In its annual report, the company said that it had $761 million of goodwill on its books that it had accumulated by buying 19 banks since 2000.
Excluding the impairment charge and other after-tax items, PacWest's estimated operating earnings are expected to be between $12 million and $13 million when it reports second-quarter results next week.
