Square 1 Acquisition Boosts PacWest Profit

PacWest Bancorp in Los Angeles said its October acquisition of the tech-focused lender Square 1 helped its fourth-quarter profit rise 1.2% from a year earlier to $71.8 million.

Earnings per share at the $21.2 billion-asset company were 70 cents, 2 cents better than the average estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg. It announced the results Thursday.

Noninterest income more than doubled to $28 million, thanks largely to higher fee income and new revenue streams from the Square 1 acquisition, PacWest said. PacWest spent about $847 million to acquire Square 1.

Net interest income rose 11.6% to $215.4 million, loans and leases rose 22% to $14.3 billion and the net interest margin narrowed to 5.22% from 5.91 in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Noninterest expense rose 33.8% to $122.2 million on lower foreclosed-asset expenses and merger costs. The efficiency ratio worsened by 9 basis points to 39.6%.

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