Tacoma, Washington-based Columbia Banking System amplified its push into Southern California on Wednesday, announcing it would acquire Irvine-based Pacific Premier Bank in a $2 billion, all-stock transaction that it expects to close in the second half of this year.
The deal marks Columbia’s second multibillion-dollar acquisition since October 2021, when it agreed to purchase Oregon-based Umpqua Bank for $5.2 billion. Though Columbia was the acquirer, the company’s retail bank network took the Umpqua brand.
Columbia is walking that back in Wednesday’s deal, though. The company plans to tag its network as Columbia Bank later this year “to ensure brand clarity as Umpqua Bank deepens its expansion throughout the West,” it said.
The name change would align the retail brand with the holding company, as well as its wealth management and advisory arm, its private bank and its trust team, Columbia said.
Acquiring Pacific Premier would add roughly $18 billion in assets to Columbia and accelerate the bank’s expansion in Southern California “by approximately a decade,” said the lender, which would crack the top 10 in deposit market share in the area. The combined entity would count about $70 billion in assets after the transaction closes, the banks said.
The deal would also avail Columbia clients to Pacific Premier’s homeowners association banking and custodial trust verticals, the banks noted. Pacific Premier clients, by the same measure, would gain access to Columbia’s treasury management products and wealth management services.
"This combination truly establishes the leading banking franchise in the Western region,” Columbia CEO Clint Stein said Wednesday in a statement. “It is a natural and strategic fit that strengthens our competitive position in Southern California, enhances our service offerings, and elevates our performance.”
As part of the deal, Pacific Premier stockholders will receive 0.9150 of a share of Columbia common stock for every Pacific Premier share they own. That comes out to $20.83 per share, based on Columbia’s closing stock price of $22.77 from Tuesday.
Three Pacific Premier directors, including the bank’s CEO, Steve Gardner, will join Columbia’s board once the transaction closes.
Pacific Premier stockholders will own roughly 30% of Columbia’s outstanding shares from that point, the banks said.
The deal’s $2 billion value easily makes it the most valuable banking tie-up of 2025 so far – matching the richest deals completed in 2024 (UMB’s $2 billion acquisition of Heartland Financial, and SouthState’s $2 billion purchase of Independent Bank).
It also continues the momentum in mergers and acquisitions after the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency last week gave the final approvals necessary to close Capital One’s $35.3 billion purchase of Discover.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to join Columbia, a company whose culture, business model, and credit discipline align with our own,” Gardner said. “The combination of these two companies operating in growing markets provides a great opportunity for our teams to continue to deliver high-quality, relationship-based banking products, services, and expertise to our clients, and to continue to generate long-term value for our stockholders.”
