Columbia Banking and Umpqua Bank Join Forces for $5B

Columbia Banking System Inc. and Umpqua Holdings Corp. said Tuesday (Oct. 12) they are joining forces in a $5.1 billion all-stock deal, according to The Wall Street Journal, which adds that the combined entity is now one of the largest financial institutions on the West Coast with more than $50 billion in assets.

The Columbia-Umpqua team-up mostly operates in Washington, California and Oregon.

Columbia, which based in Tacoma, Wash., is the smaller of the two banks but is making the acquisition of Umpqua. The new bank will be led by Columbia Chief Executive Clint Stein and operate as Umpqua Bank with a Portland, Ore., area headquarters.

The bank “never went into this or any other deal trying to do something to make our stock move one way or the other for one day,” said Stein in the WSJ report. “The real value that we’re going to create is long-term.”

Columbia bought Bank of Commerce Holdings in Sacramento, Calif., two weeks ago, pushing its assets from about $18 billion to $20 billion. Umpqua, meanwhile, had about $30 billion in assets at the end of June.

Umpqua shareholders will receive 0.5958 shares of Columbia stock for each Umpqua share, the companies said in their announcement of the deal. After the transaction is finalized, likely in the middle of next year, Umpqua shareholders will own about 62% of the company and Columbia shareholders will own about 38%.

Related: NatWest Acquires Youth-Geared FinTech RoosterMoney

Of course, bank acquisitions have been happening at a fast and furious pace this year. Last week, London financial institution NatWest acquired youth-oriented FinTech startup RoosterMoney for an undisclosed amount.

Pocket money app RoosterMoney launched five years ago in London and now has about 130,000 customers in the U.K. It helps children learn about finances through rewards, chores and other parental-defined metrics. NatWest has been seeking a way to offer stronger money management assistance to families and young people.