Pacific Capital pays $7 million for Calif.-based Morton Capital Management. Pacific Capital Bancorp , a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based community-bank holding company has bought Calabasas, Calif.-based Morton Capital Management (MCM), a registered investment advisory. Pacific Capital says the acquisition will give its well-to-do private clients a broader choice of proprietary investment products and increase the company’s overall assets under management.

MCM, meanwhile, stresses the advantages of being able its clientele banking and trust services through its new parent’s subsidiaries.

Old team, old name

Pacific Capital paid around $7 million for MCM, and it will make future payments based on performance over a specified period. MCM will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Pacific Capital, but under its present banner and with its management in place.

Twenty-five-year-old MCM managed over $800 million and provides planning and investment products to high-net-worth individuals, families, foundations, retirement plans and a few small institutional clients.

MCM is highly regarded, says George Leis, head of Pacific Capital’s wealth-management group, and the partnership promises to be “an excellent opportunity for PCB to grow assets under management as well as provide our clients with greater breadth of investment solutions.”

From MCM’s perspective, the deal is likely to “broaden our ability to create value for our clients through key areas such as trust and banking services,” says the RIA’s president and CEO Lon Morton.

Pacific Capital Bancorp is the parent company of Pacific Capital Bank, a nationally chartered bank that operates 48 branches under the local brand names of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, First National Bank of Central California, South Valley National Bank, San Benito Bank, First Bank of San Luis Obispo and Pacific Capital Bank. –FWR

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