Northrim BanCorp is paying $167.3 million, or $32.36 a share, for PBCO Financial Corp, the Medford, Oregon holding company behind People’s Bank of Commerce. All-stock, 1.160 Northrim shares per PBCO share, priced off Northrim’s $27.90 close on July 21.
That price is no bargain for a bank with $776.6 million in assets and $610.1 million in deposits.
What Northrim buys: 11 branches across southern Oregon and the Willamette Valley, and an exit from being a single-state franchise for the first time.
PBCO shareholders take stock, not cash, in a structure built to be a tax-free reorganization. In exchange, they end up owning about 21% of the combined company and get one board seat, real leverage for a seller a fifth the size of its acquirer. The exchange ratio, not the headline number, is where PBCO’s negotiators actually did their work.
Combined, the bank hits $4.2 billion in assets and 32 branches in Alaska and Oregon. Branches keep People’s Bank staff, just under a new sign.
Closing target: first quarter of 2027, pending regulators and both shareholder votes.
— Diana Kowalski