ICA Expected to Announce Acquisition of Ontario S & L

Imperial Corp. of America, parent company of Imperial Savings of California, is expected to announce today that it will acquire Ontario Savings & Loan, a closely held thrift in San Bernardino County with $119 million in assets.

ICA spokesman Tim Larrick declined to comment on a news report Monday that described the acquisition.

Ontario Savings “is in the process of notifying their people, and we agreed not to discuss it publicly,” he said.

Ontario President Mike Kelber also declined to comment on the acquisition.

ICA will “issue a formal press release about (the acquisition) on Tuesday,” according to Larrick.

“This deal won’t change Imperial’s complexion, because it represents about 1% of their asset base,” according to one S & L industry analyst.

Ontario Savings reported that net income rose by 8%, to $520,000, for the first quarter ended March 31, up from $481,000 during the previous first quarter.

Deposits rose by 14%, to $75.6 million, up from $87.1 million a year earlier.

During recent months, ICA has spun off its retail S & L operations in Kansas and Colorado. It also sold ICA Mortgage Co.

Those moves were designed to “allow us to do more and more business in California,” said Larrick.

ICA has “constantly been on the lookout for acquisition opportunities,” he said. “We expect that we’ll see more of those opportunities in the coming years.”

ICA, with $12.1 billion in assets, reported an $11.3-million net profit for the second quarter ended June 30.

ICA’s Imperial Savings subsidiary has 88 offices in California, including one in San Bernardino County.