Northrim to buy Oregon bank, its first branches outside Alaska

Northrim BanCorp agreed to buy PBCO Financial Corporation for about $167.3 million in stock, giving the Anchorage company its first branches outside Alaska. Signed July 22, 2026, it pairs the holding company for Northrim Bank with that of People's Bank of Commerce, an Oregon state-chartered bank in Medford.

KBRA put the price at roughly 1.73 times PBCO's tangible book value. PBCO shareholders would own about 21.1 percent of the combined company, and one PBCO director would join both Northrim boards.

The deal is stock-for-stock. Each PBCO share converts into 1.160 Northrim shares. Northrim calculated the per-share value at $32.36 using its closing price of $27.90 on July 21. The ratio is fixed, so the value moves with Northrim's stock: it closed Wednesday at $25.74, implying about $29.86 per PBCO share, roughly 8 percent below the July figure.

Eleven People's Bank branches, including those in Medford, Ashland and Eugene, would take the Northrim name while keeping existing staff. Northrim currently operates 21 branches, all in Alaska. PBCO president and chief executive Julia Beattie said the deal would maintain "the personal relationships and local decision-making that define People's Bank." Northrim chairman and chief executive Mike Huston said the same.

As of June 30, 2026, PBCO held about $776.6 million in consolidated assets, $570.1 million in gross loans, $610.1 million in deposits and $100.2 million in stockholders' equity. Northrim says the combined company would hold roughly $4.2 billion in assets, $3.0 billion in loans and $3.5 billion in deposits, still trailing First National Bank Alaska.

The agreement requires regulatory approval and separate shareholder votes at both companies. Northrim expects to close in the fourth quarter of 2026 or early 2027, and to combine computer systems in the fourth quarter of 2027.

The Federal Reserve's H.2 releases for the weeks ending Aug. 1 and Aug. 8, 2026 list no application involving Northrim or PBCO, and as of Aug. 19 no registration statement or proxy had been filed with the SEC.

The account above comes from Northrim's own filings and announcement. There is no comment yet from PBCO shareholders, Oregon customers or Alaska depositors, as no regulatory comment window has opened.