Central Bancorp Shareholders Ok Merger With Hanmi Financial

(RTTNews) - Hanmi Financial Corp. (HAFC), the holding company for Hanmi Bank, said Thursday that shareholders of Central Bancorp, Inc., parent of Texas-based United Central Bank, have approved the merger with Hanmi.

As of December 31, 2013, Central Bancorp had about $1.42 billion in assets, $0.64 billion in gross loans and $1.25 billion in deposits, and 23 branches across six states (Texas, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Virginia and California).

Under the terms of the agreement, the total merger consideration payable to Central Bancorp common stockholders is $50 million in cash, subject to potential purchase price adjustments.

The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2014.

Excluding one-time merger expenses, the deal is expected to be immediately accretive to 2014 earnings and significantly accretive to 2015 earnings and beyond; and is expected to generate an internal rate of return in excess of 20% for Hanmi shareholders.