Zions to Announce Purchase of Roth Stake

Zions First National Bank is expected to announce today that it is buying a 24.5% stake in Roth Capital Partners, a Newport Beach-based investment firm specializing in high-tech stock offerings. Salt Lake City-based Zions will pay $16.5 million, making it the No. 2 shareholder, though Zions will have no seat on Roth’s board. Byron Roth, the company’s chairman and chief executive, will remain the majority shareholder. The agreement comes less than a year after Zions shareholders rejected a merger with another financing and investment banking business, First Security Corp. of Salt Lake City. Roth specializes in mergers and acquisitions advice and in public offerings--mostly in the tech and biotech sectors--valued at $150 million or less. The deal comes at a time when large banks are scrambling to get a bigger piece of the financial services world, such as IPO fund-raising and stock trading. Zions and Roth also will announce today that Roth has a newly appointed president: Patrick Allen, a former Roth executive who most recently served as managing director of the investment bank Chase H&Q.;