By Michelle Dunlop
Herald Writer
EVERETT — Cascade Bank’s shareholders approved the sale of the Everett-based bank to California’s Opus Bank during a May 31 meeting.
The board of directors previously had given the OK for the sale, which needed shareholder a
pproval. About 67.9 percent of the votes counted May 31 were in favor of the sale. Only 74 percent of the eligible votes were cast. The measure needed to pass by a two-thirds majority.
Carol Nelson, chief executive for Cascade, told shareholders that the bank had faced “significant challenges” in the last few years, as have many of Snohomish County’s community banks.
“As one shareholder told me, ‘We ran out of time,’ ” Nelson said.
In March, when the bank’s board agreed to the sale, Cascade faced significant regulatory oversight. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. had required Cascade to raise at least $68 million in new capital or find a buyer.
The difficult housing market has left many community banks with too many bad loans on their hands. Regulators have seized and sold off several Snohomish County banks, including Everett’s Frontier Bank, Lynnwood’s City Bank and Arlington’s North County Bank. On May 27, Snohomish’s First Heritage Bank became the latest casualty, being seized and sold to Tacoma’s Columbia State Bank.
Cascade would have experienced a similar fate had it not been for the offer from Opus Bank, said Dennis Murphy, chairman of the Cascade Board.
“The economy is extremely sluggish,” he said.
Shareholders will receive 45 cents per outstanding share, one cent more than Cascade’s shares were worth at the close of the market May 31. Opus and Cascade said the deal was worth about $21.75 million. The California-based bank will provide $16.15 million of the $39 million Cascade received from the federal government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. Taxpayers will cover the rest.
“Would we have liked a better price? Yes,” Murphy said.
Meanwhile, Opus said that it has leased new banking offices in Encino, Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles in Los Angeles County; Corona del Mar and Irvine in Orange County; and La Jolla in San Diego County.
The company announced that it is negotiating letters of intent for 11 more branches in California, including one in the San Francisco Bay area and another in Northern California.
When he announced plans to buy Cascade Bank, investment banker Stephen Gordon, Opus’s president, CEO and founding chairman, said he had raised $460 million in new capital and intended to create a new regional bank in the West.
Michelle Dunlop covers aerospace and other business news for The Herald; 425-339-3454, mdunlop@heraldnet.com.
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