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Heritage Bank (In Organization) Receives Significant Capital Commitments from Three Private Equity Firms
- Palladium Equity Partners joins Carpenter & Company and FrontPoint Partners as lead investment partners in Heritage Bank -
NEW YORK (BUSINESS WIRE) — The organizers of Heritage Bank (In Organization) announced today that Palladium Equity Partners, LLC (“Palladium”), a New York-based private equity firm, has become a significant minority investor in Heritage Bank. Palladium has agreed to purchase an equity stake slightly below 10% in Heritage Bank with a view towards increasing its ownership over time. Palladium joins Carpenter & Company, an Irvine, California-based private equity firm specializing in de novo banks, and FrontPoint Partners, an asset management firm and wholly-owned subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, as Heritage Bank’s lead investors. These investments have elevated the initial capital raised over the minimum stated goal of $60 million, setting a new record in the state of New York for an independent startup bank.
“Heritage Bank is in a distinctive position as the current financial upheaval and consolidation in the banking industry have created new opportunities for stable, highly customer-focused institutions,” said David Perez, Managing Director of Palladium. “We are delighted to support David Bagatelle, Daniel Healy, and the entire management team as they strive to provide small businesses in the New York metro area with high value, personalized banking services built upon the safety and security of a bank with a pristine balance sheet and the largest capitalization base for a new bank in the state’s history.”
“The commitments we have received from our private equity investors signifies to the financial community and to future investors that we will not only be a strong, well-capitalized commercial bank, but also a sound investment as well,” explained David Bagatelle, President and CEO of Heritage Bank. “We look forward to rewarding the faith of both our individual and institutional investors with a significant return on investment.”
Following final regulatory approval, Heritage Bank is scheduled to open in the fall of 2008. It will be headquartered at 623 Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan, with additional offices in Melville, Long Island and Borough Park, Brooklyn.
About Heritage Bank
Led by an experienced team of metropolitan New York banking executives, the goal of Heritage Bank is to become a premier, relationship-based banking institution with a focus on the small to mid-size corporate and high net worth personal markets in the New York metropolitan area.
David S. Bagatelle will serve as President and Chief Executive Officer. Bagatelle is a former Executive Vice President of Signature Bank and was a member of its founding group. Daniel M. Healy will serve as Executive Chairman of Heritage Bank and its Board of Directors. He is a former North Fork Bancorporation Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and director. The Vice Chairman of the Board is Raymond A. Nielsen, who was the former lead-independent director at North Fork and the former President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Reliance Bancorp.
Heritage Bank received conditional approval of its charter application on June 12, 2008 from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as well as conditional approval of its FDIC application on July 2, 2008. The conditions of the approval were standard: raising the bank’s minimum capital of $60 million and passing a final field examination just prior to opening.
Please visit www.HeritageBankNY.com for additional information.
About Palladium Equity Partners
Palladium Equity Partners, LLC (www.palladiumequity.com) is an investment firm targeting companies in financial and business services, consumer/retail, food/restaurants, healthcare, manufacturing and media. Palladium has a focus on companies that are well-positioned to capitalize on the fast-growing U.S. Hispanic market. The principals of Palladium have invested over $2.5 billion of equity in more than 60 portfolio companies over the last two decades. Formed in 1997, Palladium currently has capital under management in excess of $1 billion.
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Contacts:
Heritage Bank
George Morin
KDJ Communications
George@KDJcommunications.com
(212) 461-2158
Palladium Equity Partners
David Lilly / Lyndsey Estin
Kekst and Company
212-521-4800