Cathay General Bancorp in Los Angeles said Friday that it is buying a 20% stake in First Sino Bank in Shanghai for about $52.2 million.
Closing the deal would make the $6.4 billion-asset Cathay the largest shareholder in First Sino. Regulators in the United States and China must approve the deal. Cathay did not say when it is expected to close.
First Sino, founded in 1997, has roughly $630 million of assets and last year earned about $4.1 million.
Cathay has been acquisitive of late. In January it applied to buy a 14.9% stake in the $300 million-asset Broadway Federal Bank in Los Angeles, and in February it emerged as the winner in a bidding war for the $310 million-asset Great Eastern Bank in New York.
Cathay's stock closed at $37.64 Friday, down 0.69%.
