Pacific Mercantile Bank Provides $5 Million in Financing to Health-Ade


COSTA MESA, Calif., Sept. 14, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pacific Mercantile Bank (“the Bank”), the wholly owned subsidiary of Pacific Mercantile Bancorp (NASDAQ:PMBC), today announced that the Bank’s Asset-Based Lending Group has extended a $5 million revolving line of credit to Health-Ade, a leading brewer of organic kombucha.  In addition to the financing, Health-Ade utilizes a full suite of Pacific Mercantile Bank’s depository products and cash management services.  Health-Ade was referred to Pacific Mercantile Bank by First Beverage Group, who along with CAVU Ventures, is Health-Ade’s private equity sponsor.

Headquartered in Torrance, Health-Ade brews and distributes organic kombucha, a fermented tea that naturally contains probiotics and healthy organic acids.  Enjoyed for thousands of years, kombucha is a delicious addition to a healthy lifestyle.  Health-Ade Kombucha comes in a variety of flavors including Ginger Lemon, Pink Lady Apple, and Pomegranate, and is available at more than 7,000 health- and specialty-food stores across the United States.

“In a little more than five years, we have gone from selling 10 cases of our homemade kombucha at a local farmers market to selling millions of cases annually across the country,” said Daina Trout, CEO of Health-Ade.  “As consumers seek out healthy alternatives to sugary beverages, we have seen a huge increase in demand for our kombucha.  Pacific Mercantile Bank has been a pleasure to work with and has provided us with the financing to continue increasing our production capacity and developing new flavors that will help us further increase our share of the healthy beverage market.”

“We appreciate First Beverage Group introducing us to Health-Ade and giving us the opportunity to support their continued growth,” said Tom Vertin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Mercantile Bank.  “Health-Ade is an inspiring story of entrepreneurs building an innovative company from the ground up.  The company is experiencing dramatic growth and we look forward to helping Health-Ade achieve even further financial success.”

About Pacific Mercantile Bank

Pacific Mercantile Bancorp (NASDAQ:PMBC) is the parent holding company of Pacific Mercantile Bank, which opened for business March 1, 1999. The Bank, which is an FDIC insured, California state-chartered bank and a member of the Federal Reserve System, provides a wide range of commercial banking services to businesses, business professionals and individual clients. The Bank is headquartered in Orange County and operates a total of nine offices in Southern California, located in Orange, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Bernardino counties. The Bank offers tailored flexible solutions for its clients including an array of loan and deposit products, sophisticated cash management services, and comprehensive online banking services accessible at www.pmbank.com.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains statements regarding our expectations, beliefs and views about our plans to continue to build our loan portfolio and supporting systems and processes.  These statements, which constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. Often, they include words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "estimate," "project," or words of similar meaning, or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could," or "may." These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in these forward-looking statements because such statements are inherently subject to significant assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond our control. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: the impact of interest rates and other external economic factors and competition among financial services providers. We undertake no obligation (and expressly disclaim any such obligation) to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For additional information concerning factors that could cause actual conditions, events or results to materially differ from those described in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the factors set forth under the headings "Risk Factors" in our most recent Form 10-K and 10-Q reports and to our most recent Form 8-K reports, which are available online at www.sec.gov. No assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what impact they will have on our results of operations or financial condition.

Pacific Mercantile Bank Contact:
Robert Anderson
EVP & Chief Banking Officer
714-438-2500