BANKING/FINANCE : Ronnenberg Again Shows Confidence in Pacific Island With New Purchase

Stanton businessman Clifford R. Ronnenberg has again increased his stake in Pacific Inland Bancorp by agreeing to pay $204,366 for all the shares owned by a disgruntled former director and his wife.

Ronnenberg bought 24,043 shares at $8.50 a share from Arthur and Linda Ricketts and now owns 9.7% of the company’s stock.

In July, Ronnenberg picked up 36,233 shares for about $308,000 from William Richard Cramer. That purchase doubled Ronnenberg’s stake in the firm and made him the second-largest shareholder, behind Richard W. Meyer, a La Habra developer and company chairman who owns 22%.

Cramer, Arthur Ricketts and two other directors quit the board in March because of differences over the company’s direction.

The purchases show Ronnenberg’s belief in the company as a good investment, according to John Britt, president of the firm’s primary subsidiary, Pacific Inland Bank.

But it is likely to be Ronnenberg’s last purchase of a block of stock for some time, Britt said. The director paid above-market prices and is deferring much of the payment for 5 years. The price per share is $3 to $4 more than the stock’s price during the summer, he said.

Ronnenberg paid the Rickettses $38,000 in cash, agreed in a promissory note to pay $12,000 more in 2 months and signed a second note to pay the remainder in 5 years. He paid Cramer $50,000 in cash and signed a 5-year note for the rest.

Including previously owned shares, Ronnenberg owns or controls 125,009 shares and has agreed to pay a total of $1.1 million for the stock.

Though the Rickettses sold all their shares, Cramer retained 500 shares. The other two former directors, Noel Hanson and W. Richard Mills, own more than 23,000 shares and more than 2,800 shares respectively, according to the company’s latest records.

A founding director in 1984, Ronnenberg owns several waste control companies, a recycling firm and others.