We are investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of Pacific Mercantile Bancorp (“Pacific Mercantile”) (NASDAQ: PMBC) in connection with the proposed acquisition of the Company by Banc of California, Inc.  (“BANC” or the “Company”) (NYSE: BANC).  Under the terms of the merger agreement, Pacific Mercantile shareholders will receive 0.5 shares of BANC stock for each share of Pacific Mercantile common stock that they hold, representing implied per share merger consideration of $9.77 based upon BANC’s March 22, 2021 closing price of $19.54.  Existing BANC shareholders will own approximately 81% of the outstanding shares of the combined company and Pacific Mercantile shareholders are expected to own approximately 19%.  The all-stock transaction is valued at approximately $235 million.

WeissLaw LLP is investigating whether Pacific Mercantile’s board acted in the best interest of Pacific Mercantile’s public shareholders in agreeing to the proposed transaction, whether the per-share merger consideration adequately compensates Pacific Mercantile’s shareholders, and whether all information regarding the process undertaken by the board and the valuation of the transaction will be fully and fairly disclosed to Pacific Mercantile’s public shareholders.

WeissLaw LLP has litigated hundreds of stockholder class and derivative actions for violations of corporate and fiduciary duties.  We have recovered over a billion dollars for defrauded clients and obtained important corporate governance relief in many of these cases.  If you have information or would like legal advice concerning possible corporate wrongdoing (including insider trading, waste of corporate assets, accounting fraud, or materially misleading information), consumer fraud (including false advertising, defective products, or other deceptive business practices), or anti-trust violations, please email us at stockinfo@weisslawllp.com

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