AmericanWest buying Bank of Sacramento

Spokane-based AmericanWest Bank announced it will acquire a Northern California bank with four branches and assets of $468 million.

The deal with Bank of Sacramento must still be approved by regulators.

As of June 30, AmericanWest had $4 billion in assets, five branches in the Sacramento area and 94 branches overall.

A press release said the two banks have branches in “complementary” locations, suggesting they would all remain open once the acquisition is completed.

The deal involves AmericanWest Bank paying shareholders of Greater Sacramento Bancorp $22.05 for each share of stock, or about $60 million.

The closing is expected in the first half of 2015.

AmericanWest CEO Scot Kisting said, in a release, “Bank of Sacramento is a business-focused community bank with knowledgeable employees who are committed to providing outstanding service to their customers and the community.

“It’s exciting to bring together two like-minded banks with an eye toward continued growth,” he said.

In 2012 AmericanWest Bank announced it would buy Inland Community Bank of Ontario, California. It paid $23.7 million in acquiring the bank’s balance sheet and five Southern California branches.

That deal significantly helped build AmericanWest’s assets. At that point, assets were listed at $2.5 billion — $1.5 billion less than it now has.