Hope Bancorp has completed its acquisition of Territorial Bancorp in Honolulu, finalizing a lengthy deal process that began in April 2024. The all-stock transaction, valued at $78.6 million, faced challenges along the way, including a competing bid from an investor group led by Blue Hill Advisors and former Bank of Hawaii CEO Allan Landon. The Blue Hill-led group had offered $12.50 per share in cash, about 50% more than Hope’s estimated price.
However, Territorial’s board of directors rejected the competing offer, citing uncertainties such as lack of evidence of prompt regulatory approval and a $3 million termination fee payable to Hope. In November, Territorial’s shareholders voted in favor of the sale to Hope, with over 5 million votes cast for the deal and 1.9 million against it. Regulators approved the transaction in March 2025.
Kevin Kim, Hope’s chairman and CEO, expressed excitement about the completion of the combination, stating, “We are excited to have completed this combination and to officially welcome Territorial customers and team members to the Bank of Hope family.”
The acquisition adds approximately $2 billion in assets to Hope’s portfolio and grants the bank entrance to the Hawaiian market.
Hope Bancorp expands into Hawaiian market
Hope now has around $19 billion in assets and about 80 branches across nine states, with 30 of those branches located in Hawaii.
Kim believes the merger will strengthen Hope’s position as a leading Asian-American bank in the country, providing a stable, low-cost deposit base and diversifying its loan mix with the addition of a high-quality residential mortgage portfolio. The former Territorial Savings Bank will now operate under the trade name Territorial Savings, a division of Bank of Hope, to preserve the century-long legacy of the Territorial brand and its commitment to local communities. Territorial was previously the fifth-largest deposit holder in Hawaii, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
This merger creates the largest regional bank catering to multi-ethnic customers across the continental U.S. and the Hawaiian Islands. Hope had initially estimated that the transaction would be about 6% dilutive to its tangible book value, with an expected earn-back period of three years. The bank also projected that its shareholders would own approximately 94.4% of the combined entity, while Territorial shareholders would own about 5.6%.