Global Consumer Acquisition Corp. has another deal in the works.
The New York blank-check company said Wednesday that it signed a letter of intent to buy the $204 million-asset Service 1st Bank of Nevada in Las Vegas.
Service 1st is a highly capitalized start-up with two branches; it has not posted a profitable quarter since its 2007 opening.
William E. Martin, the chief executive officer at Service 1st, would retain that position after the deal closes. He is also expected to become CEO of the proposed Western Liberty Bancorp, a new bank holding company Global Consumer intends to create as the parent for Service 1st and other acquisitions.
The deal price would be paid entirely in stock and equate to the book value of Service 1st at the closing.
But the payment could go higher depending on how Service 1st's stock performs. Under an earn-out provision, the seller could get an additional 20% if its share price surpasses $12.70 for 30 consecutive days.
"The acquisition of Service1st would be a model transaction for us, and we look forward to pursuing this together with the many similar opportunities that we expect to become available in the Nevada marketplace," Jason Ader, the chairman of Global Consumer, said in a press release.
He did not say how long Global Consumer might take to reach a formal agreement with Service 1st or when their deal might close.
In July Global Consumer had announced two deals simultaneously, including one, which is still in the works, to buy the $45 million-asset 1st Commerce Bank in North Las Vegas from Capitol Bancorp Ltd. in Lansing, Mich.
But the larger of its two previous deals got torpedoed last month when regulators seized the bank unit of the $25 billion-asset Colonial BancGroup in Montogomery, Ala., and sold it to BB&T Corp. in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Though Colonial had agreed to sell its 21 Nevada branches, $441 million of loans and $492 million of deposits to Global Consumer, the failure nullified their plans.
Global Consumer said Wednesday it is in talks with BB&T to revive that deal.
As a special-purpose acquisition company, Global Consumer has until Nov. 27 to complete a transaction or dissolve itself. It raised $300 million of capital for its deal-making and is run by the investment management firm Hayground Cove Asset Management LLC in New York. (Ader is Hayground's founder and CEO.)
