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Trinity Capital
Jerry
Newell: Bank of the West/Trinity Capital $180M R+ $900M Management discussions
between Trinity Capital Corporation and Bank of the West.
I am Bank
of the West and privately held equipment leasing company Trinity Capital
Corporation have signed a letter of intent for an acquisition making San
Francisco-based Trinity Capital a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of
the West.
The parties are now negotiating a definitive agreement and expect to finalize
this transaction within the next 30 days.
Both companies view this combination
as highly desirable. This
transaction underscores Bank of the West's commitment to equipment leasing
as a core product line. Bank of the West has operated a nationwide funding
business for equipment leasing brokers for 30 years and provides direct
equipment leases to bank customers.
Bank of the West's equipment lease
portfolio currently exceeds $400 million.
The Bank will continue to strongly
support and grow its broker funding business which represents more than
three-quarters of its portfolio. In particular, we want our lease brokers
to know that Bank of the West values their business and will continue
to protect brokers' interests in their transactions.
The addition of
Trinity Capital will further expand the scope of the bank's equipment leasing
product line, but is not intended to compete with the bank's existing
leasing businesses. Moreover, the market focus of Trinity Capital is
sufficiently different from Bank of the West's broker funding business that
we do not anticipate any overlap. Trinity
Capital will operate as a separate subsidiary of Bank of the West and
owners Jim and Donna Halow will continue in their executive positions. Trinity
Capital Corporation was launched 22 years ago by the Halows. Specializing
in nationwide vendor leasing for several vertical market niches,
Trinity has an owned lease portfolio of approximate $180 million in receivables
and also operates an equipment lease servicing business with nearly
$900 million in leases under management. About
Bank of the West The
third-ranked commercial bank headquartered in California, San rancisco-based
Bank of the West serves 1.5 million retail and commercial customers
in six states, as well as through such national specialty business lines
as equipment leasing, religious institution and SBA lending. With 300 branches
in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada and New Mexico, $26
billion-asset Bank of the West is a subsidiary of BancWest Corporation, a
unit of Paris-based BNP Paribas, France's largest listed bank. Jerry
Newell, CLP Senior
Vice President Equipment
Leasing Bank
of the West |
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