Sterling to acquire three branches of Boston Private in Puget Sound
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Spokane’s Sterling Savings Bank has purchased the Puget Sound operations of publicly traded Boston Private Financial Holdings, Inc.
Boston Private, a national financial services group that owns wealth management and private bank affiliates in Boston, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, has operated three branches in the Seattle area.
It acquired the branches in Seattle, Bellevue and Redmond in 2007 from financially distressed Charter Bank.
Sterling Savings CFO Patrick Rusnak said the acquisition made sense for both sides; Boston Private felt the branches were too distant from its East Coast offices; and Sterling considers Seattle one of its prime areas for continuing growth.
Sterling currently has 15 branches in the greater Seattle area, including in Bellevue and Redmond, Rusnak said.
One of Sterling Bank’s Seattle branches is in the same building as Boston Private’s, Rusnak said.
Sterling will pay about $96 million, Rusnak said, which covers an $11 million “premium” and the difference between the branches’ total loans and deposits.
The sale is expected to close in the first half of 2013 pending regulatory review.