Hanmi Bank stock jumps on report it may be near capital raise
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Hanmi Financial Corp. shares jumped 21% on Thursday on a positive news report about the bank’s efforts to find a source of new funds, averting a possible takeover by the government.
Hanmi Financial, parent of Hanmi Bank in L.A.’s Koreatown, ran into trouble last year when some construction and business loans went sour. It disclosed in November that regulators had ordered it to raise $100 million by July or face seizure.
Hanmi has said its chairman has spoken with potential investors including Woori Finance Holdings, one of Korea’s largest banks and the parent of New York’s Woori America Bank.
Hanmi shares rose 55 cents, or nearly 21%, to $3.20 on Thursday, making it the biggest percentage gainer of the day on Nasdaq.
A report in the Korea Daily newspaper of Los Angeles noted that several banks with ethnic Korean customers have been trying to raise capital and that L.A.’s Saehan Bank and Oakland’s Innovative Bank have succeeded in doing so. The report said Hanmi’s negotiations with Woori have been going smoothly.
David Yang, a spokesman for Hanmi, declined to comment.
-- E. Scott Reckard
