Mergers and Acquisitions

NEWS (SAN DIEGO, Calif.) -- Bank of Southern California, N.A. (OTC Pink: BCAL) recently announced that it has completed the purchase of the deposits of the La Quinta branch of Opus Bank. The transaction closed on Friday, August 19, 2016. Customers of the Opus Bank La Quinta branch were consolidated into the existing La Quinta branch of Bank of Southern California. As of Monday, August 22, 2016, the former Opus Bank La Quinta customers now have access to all Bank of Southern California locations, including three Coachella Valley branches located in La Quinta, El Paseo-Palm Desert, and Rancho Mirage.

NEWS (SALT LAKE CITY, Utah) -- Mortgage document preparation vendor International Document Services (IDS), a division of The Reynolds and Reynolds Company, today announced its acquisition of Encomia, an established provider of electronic mortgage (eMortgage) solutions to depository and non-depository lending institutions

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- La Tortilla Oven recently acquired La Tortilla Loca and its intellectual property. As a result of this acquisition, La Tortilla Oven(R) is now the primary holder of Patent Number RE42311, the original fabric tortilla warmer designed to keep tortillas fresh and warm for more than an hour. And, it's using the technology to deliver a new and healthy microwave steaming method.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants (EPIC), a retail property, casualty insurance brokerage and employee benefits consultant, announced today the sale of their Petaluma branch office and its book of business to Sacramento-based InterWest Insurance Services. Both EPIC and InterWest are anticipating a seamless, "business as usual" transition.

NEWS: (NEW YORK, N.Y.) JenCap Holdings, LLC, a consolidator of specialty insurance distribution and program management businesses, including managing general agencies, specialty program underwriters, transactional wholesale brokers and captive managers, has acquired specialist MGA and wholesaler Trivedi-Capacity Associates, LLC. JenCap Holdings, LLC is a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group.

NEWS: (SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.) Wholesale Trading Co-op Insurance Services, a privately-held wholesale insurance specialist serving a group of leading retail insurance brokers, announced today that The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) has agreed to acquire a majority stake in wholesale insurance broker JenCap Holdings, LLC and the assets of Wholesale Trading Co-Op Insurance Services, which will be re-named Wholesale Trading Insurance Services, LLC.

NEWS: (DENVER, Colo.) Mortgage services expert Titan Lenders Corp. (Titan) announced it has been acquired by Utah-based MetaSource, LLC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition of Titan broadens the company's footprint in data-centric mortgage services.

NEWS: (ISLIP TERRACE, N.Y.) Diverse Technology Solutions Inc. (DTS) a N.Y. based cloud hosting service provider has acquired cloud hosted Voice Over IP (VOIP) telephone service provider Voitual of Delray Beach Florida. The newly formed company DTS VOIP LLC will acquire the assets of Voitual rebranding the companies Hosted PBX Voice Over IP telephony service as DTS-VOIP adding another cloud product to the portfolio of DTS's successful cloud hosting solutions.

NEWS: (SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.) Protector Holdings, a joint venture of EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants and Dowling Capital Partners, announced today the acquisition of BetterWay Insurance Services. Premier Insurance Services, acquired by Protector Holdings in 2013, targets the growing Hispanic Community in California.

NEWS: (RALEIGH, N.C.) Capital Automotive Group (CAG) of North Carolina announced today the acquisition of Bobby Murray Chevrolet, 1820 Capital Blvd., Raleigh. The name will change to Capital Chevrolet. This brings to 13 the number of auto brands represented by Capital.

NEWS: (PATCHOGUE, N.Y.) Prestige Worldwide Group, parent company of Crime Scene Clean Up, announced today that it has acquired KRI Crime Scene Cleanup of Texas, Crime Scene Inc. of Maryland and Crime Scene Clean LLC of Texas, three of the largest biohazard firms in the U.S. This deal marks one of the largest of its kind in the crime scene cleanup industry and now makes Crime Scene Clean Up the leading firm in the business.

NEWS: Ascende, Inc., a premier human capital and employee benefits consulting firm, and EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants, a unique and innovative national retail insurance brokerage and employee benefits consulting firm, announced today that they have joined forces.

NEWS: MCT Trading, Inc., a recognized industry leader in mortgage risk management providing pipeline hedging, best-execution loan sales and centralized lock desk services, announced that it has acquired certain key assets of PLar Analytics, LLC, a provider of financial models for mortgage bankers, and of PB Pacific Partners, LLC, which offers consulting services on capital markets and mortgage servicing.

NEWS: Asentinel, a leading provider of lifecycle Technology and Telecom Expense Management solutions, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of eMOBUS, a rapidly growing disruptor in the field of Mobility Managed Services. Combining software and expert services, eMOBUS makes managing enterprise mobility frictionless, allowing companies to quickly lower costs, automate tedious support tasks and enable BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Device).

NEWS: Verify Smart Corporation (OTC:VSMR / OTCMKTS:VSMR), a global innovator in financial fraud prevention and digital content distribution to the mobile channel, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of 55 percent of Surf Smart Solutions, LLC a Wyoming-based online software security company.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /eNewsChannels/ -- NEWS: EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants, a retail property and casualty insurance brokerage and employee benefits consultant, announced today it has acquired Executive Financial, Inc., an employee benefits consulting firm specializing in executive benefits, life, and disability insurance strategies.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /eNewsChannels/ -- NEWS: EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants, a retail property and casualty insurance brokerage and employee benefits consultant, announced today it has acquired Sorci Insurance Brokerage, Inc., a specialist in providing comprehensive Workers' Compensation Insurance services to New Car Auto Dealers in California.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /eNewsChannels/ -- NEWS: Protector Holdings, a joint venture of Edgewood Partners Insurance Center (EPIC) and Dowling Capital Partners, today announced the acquisition of Oasis South Insurance Services. With 8 locations across California's San Diego County, Oasis South specializes in providing insurance services to Hispanic consumers.

COSTA MESA, Calif. /eNewsChannels/ -- NEWS: Emilio N. Francisco, Chairman and CEO of private equity firm PDC Capital Group, today announced the acquisition of ZGlobal Southern California EB-5 Investment Regional Center.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. /eNewsChannels/ -- NEWS: The Harman Press has acquired AandI Photographic and Digital and its staff, effective February 13, 2015. AandI is expected to move operations from its current Burbank address to The Harman Press facility in North Hollywood before the end of March. The announcement was made by AandI co-owners Baret Lepejian and Vic Lepejian together with The Harman Press president Phillip Goldner.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /eNewsChannels/ -- NEWS: Protector Holdings, a joint venture of EPIC (Edgewood Partners Insurance Center) and Dowling Capital Partners, announced today the acquisition of Peartree Insurance Services. Headquartered in Brea, California, Peartree specializes in providing insurance services to Hispanic consumers.

TIPP CITY, Ohio /eNewsChannels/ -- NEWS: The owners of Ohio-based Energy Optimizers, USA have sold its affiliate company, Lighting Optimizers, USA, to Eco Engineering. This decision was made to ensure continued world-class service for Energy Optimizers' clients, while allowing the company to focus on and expand its core business of vendor-neutral energy efficiency projects.

TORRANCE, Calif. /eNewsChannels/ -- NEWS: DocMagic, Inc., a premier provider of fully-compliant loan document preparation, compliance, eSign and eDelivery solutions, announced today that it has acquired the assets of Doc-Tech Corporation, dba Document Express, a boutique document preparation company known for its exceptional customer service. The acquisition comes on the heels of DocMagic completing the purchase of award-winning eSignSystems in October.

BOULDER, Colo. /eNewsChannels/ -- NEWS: TeamSnap, used by 7 million people around the world to coordinate their sports and other ongoing group activities, today announced it has completed the acquisition of HomeTeam, a mobile app used to organize team rosters, schedules and contacts, developed by Silicon Valley's Crescent Computing. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /eNewsChannels/ -- NEWS: EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants today announced it has acquired Greyling Insurance Brokerage and Risk Consulting, Inc., a specialty insurance broker and risk management consultant based in Atlanta, with locations in St. Louis, and Tampa. The firm will now operate as 'Greyling Insurance Brokerage - a Division of EPIC.'