Bank of The West - Acquisitions

Acquisitions

In 1999, Bank of the West bought Sierra West Bancorp. This transaction temporarily diluted BNPP’s ownership of the holding company to 42%.

In 2001, as part of the regulatory approval process with Wells Fargo Banks's acquisition of First Security Corp., Bank of the West acquired 23 First Security branches in New Mexico and 7 First Security branches in Nevada to avoid anti-trust issues with overlapping Wells Fargo operations. Also in 2001, First Hawaiian Bank bought Union Bank of California’s branches in Guam and Saipan. First Hawaiian had established its first branch in Guam in 1970 and its first branch in Saipan in 1997. (Union Bank of California had established its branch in Guam in 1974.) In May 2001, the independent directors of BancWest Bancorp established a special committee that then unanimously voted to accept BNP’s offer to acquire the remaining 55% of BancWest Bancorp, making the holding company a wholly owned subsidiary of BNP. The year 2001 concluded with the December purchase by Bank of the West of United California Bank from UFJ Bank, of Japan.

In March 2004, Bank of the West announced the purchase of Community First Bankshares, a bank holding company that operated Community First National Bank, headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota, which had 155 offices in 12 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Soon after, Bank of the West agreed to buy USDB Bancorp, the parent of Union Safe Deposit Bank. In December 2005, Bank of the West bought Commercial Federal Corporation of Omaha, Nebraska. This merger added offices in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma to Bank of the West.

In January 2006, Bank of the West opened a representative office in Tokyo, Japan, and in September 2007, it opened a representative office in Taipei, Taiwan.