PacWest to sell Civic Financial to real estate lender Roc360

PacWest Bancorp agreed to sell its Civic Financial Services unit to real estate lending firm Roc360, as the regional bank seeks to bolster liquidity following turmoil among its peers.

Roc360 has purchased the origination assets of Civic Financial, the New York-based firm said in a statement Tuesday. Excluded from the sale are previously originated, loans and loan servicing operations.

Civic Financial, which PacWest acquired in early 2021, specializes in so-called residential business-purpose loans, or mortgages explicitly made for a borrower's investment property. Civic has lent more than $9.4 billion through its borrower-direct, broker, and correspondent channels since 2014, according to the statement.

Morgan Lieberman/Bloomberg

Representatives for Beverly Hills-based PacWest didn't immediately respond to a request for comment placed outside business hours. The Wall Street Journal reported the news earlier, citing Maksim Stavinsky, Roc360's co-founder and president.

PacWest rose as much as 9.8% in premarket trading on Wednesday. Shares of PacWest are up 29% this week through Tuesday after it agreed to sell a $2.6 billion portfolio of real estate construction loans although the stock is still down 68% so far this year.