A major shareholder in Placer Sierra Bancshares, which has built itself up over the past few years by buying and consolidating a number of banks, is further reducing its stake in the Sacramento company.
The $1.8 billion-asset Placer Sierra said last week that it intends to make a secondary offering of 5 million shares owned by California Community Financial Institutions Fund Limited Partnership, which currently owns a 48.2% stake in the company.
The offering is expected to be completed by Jan. 20. The partnership would then be left with 14.8% of Placer's common stock, unless an over-allotment option of 750,000 shares is exercised. In that case, the partnership would be left with a 9.8% stake.
Placer did not say why the partnership was selling the shares.
The partnership has been divesting its stake in Placer for some time. The general partner is Belvedere Capital Partners LLC, a San Francisco private equity firm. Belvedere bought the $572 million-asset Placer Savings Bank in 1999 and then formed a holding company, now called Placer Sierra Bancshares, under which it consolidated Placer Savings and other banks it has bought since then.
