Ridgeview Capital buys Las Vegas loan company

Monday, July 19, 2004 | 11:02 a.m.

Ridgeview Capital of Salt Lake City last week said that it has purchased a majority stake in Koster's Cash Loans in a $12 million deal.

Ridgeview partnered with Kim Koster, chief executive of the Las Vegas loan company, to acquire Koster's Cash Loans from its founder, Bill Koster, Kim Koster's father. Ridgeview owns 70 percent of the company with the remaining 30 percent controlled by a management team led by Kim Koster.

Ridgeview plans to grow the company in an effort to generate revenue for the private equity firm's investors, said Greg Larson, Ridgeview's managing director. This is Ridgeview's first Las Vegas acquisition, he said, adding that additional deals in Southern Nevada are likely.

Koster's Cash Loans was founded in 1996 and has 18 Las Vegas-area locations and about 70 employees. The company said it has underwritten about 100,000 loans since its inception.

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