Shares of
PacWest Bancorp
rose early on Wednesday after it agreed to sell its real estate lending unit to Roc360, a property focused bank.
The stock added 7.7% to $7.95 in premarket trading. It’s still down about 75% this year, but has rallied more than 30% over the past week.
Regional lenders such as PacWest (ticker: PACW) have been in focus since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic.
Roc360 announced that it will buy PacWest’s Civic Financial Services business, which lends to landlords and property investors. A year of aggressive interest-rate increases by the Federal Reserve mean real estate loans have been an area of concern.
Roc360 didn’t give the purchase price, but the disposal will benefit PacWest and boost confidence. Last week, PacWest announced the sale of $2.6 billion of loans.
Write to Brian Swint at [email protected]
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