Taichung Commercial Bank in Taipei, Taiwan, has called off the deal to buy American Continental Bank in California a little over a year after announcing the nearly $82.1 million deal, the companies said Friday.
In a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp., Taichung Commercial said both parties agreed not to go ahead after considering the rapidly changing global political and economic conditions, Taipei Times reported.
Taichung Commercial has agreed to pay American Continental $500,000 for the terminated deal, the statement said.
The companies failed to fulfill all the terms and conditions of the agreement as outlined in September last year by the termination date, the statement noted.
The deal, which was supposed to close in the first quarter of 2023, would have expanded the Taiwanese bank’s footprint in Los Angeles, Washington and Texas with plans for opening new branches nationwide.
Taichung Commercial said it would continue to evaluate options to expand in the overseas market, according to Taipei Times. The lender opened its first overseas branch in Labuan, Malaysia, in 2018 and later added marketing offices in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Kota Kinabalu, the publication noted.
The Taiwanese bank’s business models, residential mortgage loan production platforms, and focus on the Chinese-American market aligned with that of the U.S. bank, David Jia, president of Taichung Commercial, said in a statement at that time. Taichung Commercial had total assets of roughly $26 billion as of June 2022.
American Continental Bank, headquartered in the City of Industry, California, had total assets of approximately $357.4 million as of June 30. The full-service commercial bank offers banking services to the Chinese-American communities in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties in California and in Bellevue, Washington. It also has three loan offices in Washington, California and Texas, according to the statement.
“[American Continental’s] mission is to serve its local community by providing a growing array of banking solutions to meet the needs of individuals and small business owners,” the bank said in the Friday press release. “An emphasis on building strong client relationships and community involvement are cornerstones of the Company’s philosophy, and the Company will continue to explore strategic alternatives that it believes will provide superior value to its shareholders.”
In another scuttled deal earlier this year, TD and First Horizon terminated their proposed $13.4 billion merger in May, citing “uncertainty” as to when the deal might get a green light from the regulators.
