Cathay General Bancorp in Los Angeles has entered into option agreements to buy a 41% stake in the $307 million-asset Great Eastern Bank in New York City for about $28.4 million.
In announcing the deal late Tuesday, the $6 billion-asset Cathay also said that it had filed applications with the Federal Reserve to acquire the remainder of Great Eastern’s stock and that it would soon file with the New York State Banking Department.
Cathay entered New York City in 1999 and now has four branches there. Great Eastern has five branches in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn. Both banks cater to Asian-Americans.
Cathay is one of several West Coast Asian-American banking companies that have recently announced deals to buy East Coast banks. In August the $7 billion-asset UCBH Holdings Inc. in San Francisco said it was buying a bank in Boston, and the $1.5 billion-asset Wilshire Bancorp Inc. in Los Angeles said it was buying a small bank in New York.
