PacWest's $2.6B real estate loan sale boosts shares.
PacWest Bancorp's shares rose nearly 13% after the lender announced it would sell $2.6 billion worth of its loan portfolio to Kennedy-Wilson Holdings at a discount of nearly $200 million. The deal is expected to help the bank build its common equity tier 1 capital. The news also lifted the shares of other regional lenders, with the KBW Regional Banking Index and the S&P Regional Banks Index each gaining more than 2%.