A private investor group that includes a former chief executive of Nara Bancorp in Los Angeles plans to buy the $100 million-asset Innovative Bancorp in Oakland.
Seong-Hoon Hong would become Innovative’s president and CEO. Sung Sang Cho, who heads an investment company, would become Innovative’s chairman.
The deal, announced Monday, is expected to close in the second quarter. The group did not say how much it would pay.
Mr. Hong was the CEO of the $1.4 billion-asset Nara for three months last year, after the Korean-American banking company bought his former employer, Asiana Bank in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Curt Christianssen, the executive vice president of Carpenter & Co., the Irvine company that helped structure the deal, said Innovative does not target particular ethnic groups but would do so under the new ownership.
The new owners plan to open more branches in the San Francisco Bay area and in Los Angeles, and Innovative would drop its focus on attracting deposits from merchant card customers of Innovative Solutions, Mr. Christianssen said.
Intuit Inc. bought Innovative Solutions this year from Innovative Bancorp.
