4 Beach Bank Shareholders Seek OK to Gain Control
Four of Beach Savings Bank’s major shareholders, including the institution’s president, are seeking regulatory approval of a deal that will give them control of the year-old savings and loan.
Alfred I. Puchner, president and chief executive of the Huntington Beach-based S&L;, said he and three other shareholders--currently the owners of 33% of the small institution’s stock--have agreed to buy the 33% interest held by eight other shareholders. The agreement calls for the Puchner group to pay $10 a share, or $670,000--the same price per share that the investors paid to open the savings and loan last June. The remaining third of the S&L;’s shares are held by a number of small investors.
The application for a change of control, filed with the state Department of Savings and Loan, shows that Puchner will remain in charge and that William D. Foote of Southwest Diversified Inc. in Newport Beach will become the new chairman.
Bertels to Resign
The current chairman, Robert Bertels, will resign after he and his wife, Sandra, sell their shares, according to the application.
Beside Puchner, the acquiring shareholders are Foote and Southwest Diversified Trust; Foote’s wife, Marjorie K. Foote, and the Hughes Family Trust and Roy E. Hughes.
Beside the Bertels, those selling their shares are Dan and Ladys Jacobs; Richard and Judith Marsh; Sutro & Co. as conservator for Dan Marsh; the Meir Ben, M.D. Inc. Pension Plan; Vikki Morrison-Rey and Terry Rey; David Tsong, MD, and Leonard and Meta Zerlaut.
Beach Savings has two other applications pending before state and federal regulators.
One would allow the S&L; to offer 300,000 new shares of stock, which could add $3 million to its capital and let the institution raise more than $70 million in deposits. It currently has $2 million in capital and $25 million in deposits.
The other would allow the Puchner group to buy the new stock. Any shareholder who owns 10% or more of an S&L;’s stock must seek regulatory approval to purchase more stock.
