January 16, 2024 10:30 AM Eastern Standard Time

SAN DIEGO & DALLAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Castle Creek Capital, a private equity firm focused on investments in the community banking industry, today announced an agreement to invest $30 million in FirstSun Capital Bancorp (the “Company” or “FirstSun”), alongside other investors, to fund the Company’s announced merger with HomeStreet, Inc. (“HomeStreet”). Spencer T. Cohn will become Castle Creek’s board level representative at the Company after merger close. The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions including required regulatory and stockholder approvals.

“We believe that FirstSun has the scale, platform and management team to become a leading regional bank under the leadership of Neal, and we are excited to help them execute on their M&A strategy.”

Founded in 1892, FirstSun offers a full range of specialized financial services to business customers as well as relationship-focused services to meet personal, business and wealth management financial objectives for its customers, with a branch network in Texas, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Washington and mortgage banking capabilities in 43 states. This new investment will help fund FirstSun’s acquisition of HomeStreet and support its continued organic growth in new and existing geographies. Neal Arnold will continue to lead the Company as CEO with the same team of employees and leadership supporting FirstSun’s next phase of growth.

“FirstSun has built a strong reputation as a dependable, best-in-class community bank specializing in commercial services in key growth western markets,” said Tony Scavuzzo, Managing Principal at Castle Creek Capital. “We believe that FirstSun has the scale, platform and management team to become a leading regional bank under the leadership of Neal, and we are excited to help them execute on their M&A strategy.”

“Here at FirstSun, we pride ourselves on being a top performing regional bank,” said Neal Arnold, CEO of FirstSun. “As such, it was extremely important for our team to find a sophisticated and experienced capital partner who shares our growth values, entrepreneurial spirit and drive for shareholder return. We are thrilled to partner with Castle Creek as we pursue M&A to expand our geographic reach, enhance our product offerings and further invest in our markets and stakeholders. We’ll do this while continuing to provide the exceptional service that FirstSun is known for. Castle Creek is a great cultural fit with our team, and we believe their support for this transaction validates the investment merits of the business combination. We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with Castle Creek in the future,” added Arnold.

Sidley Austin LLP acted as legal counsel to Castle Creek Capital.

About First Sun Capital Bancorp

FirstSun Capital Bancorp (“FirstSun”), a financial holding company headquartered in Denver, Colorado, provides a full spectrum of deposit, lending, treasury management, wealth management and online banking products and services through its two wholly-owned subsidiaries—Sunflower Bank, National Association (“Sunflower Bank” or the “Bank”), a national banking association, that operates as Sunflower Bank, N.A., First National 1870 and Guardian Mortgage and Logia Portfolio Management, LLC, a registered investment advisor organized under the laws of the State of Kansas that provides discretionary investment management to retail and institutional accounts.

As of September 30, 2023, FirstSun had total assets of $7.8 billion, total net loans of $6.2 billion, total deposits of $6.3 billion and total stockholders’ equity of $843.7 million.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of federal securities laws. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “project,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “can,” “predict,” “potential,” “target,” “explore,” “continue,” or the negative of these terms, and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to numerous uncertainties and risks, including factors beyond the control Castle Creek Capital or the Company, that could cause actual results, performance or outcomes to differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the statements.

Contacts

Spencer Cohn
Castle Creek Capital
1 (858) 756-8304
scohn@castlecreek.com
https://www.castlecreek.com/

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