A Colorado investment group said Wednesday it plans to purchase a controlling stake in Greeley's New Frontier Bank, which was disciplined by regulators last week for its high level of bad loans.

Colorado Financial Holdings, a Boulder-based investment group lead by Mark Wong and Gary Jacobs, will pay $30 million for a 51 percent interest in New Frontier's holding company. The new owners will give existing shareholders the chance to buy new shares, with a possible total of $50 million in new capital.

Jacobs was an executive at StorageTek and a founder of Corporate Express before turning to private investment. Wong is a 30-year agriculture veteran who is CEO of Agrivida, a privately held biotechnology company focused on the production of cheap sugars from plant biomass.

The group has hired Jim Slavik as CEO to replace Larry Seastrom.