CommerceBank Turns to Stock Offer for $4 Million It Needs for Growth : BANKING/FINANCE

CommerceBank in Newport Beach, which fell from its perch last year as the biggest locally owned bank in Orange County, is going to Wall Street to pick up $4 million to $4.6 million so it can resume its growth.

The bank’s parent company, CommerceBancorp, won Securities and Exchange Commission approval last week for a public offering of up to 184,000 shares of preferred stock, which can be converted to common stock at a later date.

“We outran our capital a year ago,” said Clyde H. Gossert, the bank’s president. He was referring to one critical day--year-end 1986--when the bank’s ratio of capital to assets fell to 5.2%, which is below the 6% level required by regulators.

Proceeds from the preferred stock will be dumped into the bank’s capital base, Gossert said. “We hope to get enough capital to take care of us for a three- to five-year period,” he said.

Bank mergers in the last year have created companies larger than CommerceBancorp, and Gossert did not rule out the possibility that his company might acquire a bank as part of its plan to grow larger. But, he said, there are no acquisition talks in the works.

At the end of 1986, the bank was the county’s biggest community bank, with $236.6 million in assets. But it purposely lowered its assets to $219.6 million by the end of last year, falling to second place. The action did, however, boost the bank’s capital to 6.2% of assets. With recent mergers among county banks, it now is about the fourth largest banking firm in the county.

CommerceBank was courted last fall by Independence Bank in Encino, which had dangled a $16-million purchase price in front of the Newport Beach bank’s directors. Saying they were far apart on many issues, the two banks called off negotiations a day before the deal was due to expire.