ICA Calling Off Acquisition of Ontario Savings

After an apparently futile four-month mating dance, the parent company of Imperial Savings of California is calling off its planned acquisition of Ontario Savings & Loan, a five-branch thrift that was to have given Imperial a higher profile in the booming San Bernardino County mortgage market.

Imperial Corp. of America declined to confirm a report that it had made a final decision to bail out of the acquisition, but spokesman Tim Larrick said Wednesday that his company’s intent was to “withdraw its (merger) application” with federal regulators. ICA will make an announcement concerning the Ontario Savings deal Friday, Larrick said.

Reached at his home Wednesday, Ontario Savings President Michael Kelber declined to comment on the status of the acquisition, saying only that the 17 shareholders of his closely held thrift recently approved the deal. The Kelber family is the majority shareholder in the Ontario-based S&L.;

ICA declined to comment on the reasons for calling off the acquisition until Friday. “We’re uncomfortable talking about the reasons because we haven’t really made a final decision,” Larrick said. ICA’s intent to buy Ontario Savings was first made public in July.

A report that the deal was stymied by unresolved regulatory issues was described as “an absolutely not true allegation” by Neil Pont, ICA’s executive vice president. The Federal Home Loan Bank Board has not formally issued a decision on the proposed acquisition by ICA, Pont said.

With $119 million in assets as of March 30, Ontario Savings is less than 1% the size of ICA, which had $12.3 billion in assets as of Sept. 30. Asked for recent financial details on Ontario Savings, Kelber said they were not available. For the quarter ended March 31, Ontario Savings reported net income of $520,000.

The Ontario Savings deal would have provided Imperial with an increased presence in San Bernardino County. As of June 30, only one of Imperial Savings’ 88 offices in California was located there.