Bidding to Reopen for Costa Mesa S

Federal regulators hoping to sell Pacific Savings Bank by Saturday said Wednesday that they will need more time to peddle the Costa Mesa institution.

New regulations and policy decisions made this week have caused regulators to reopen bidding on Pacific Savings and five other large, insolvent thrifts, said Stephen J. Katsanos, a spokesman for the Resolution Trust Corp., a federal agency operating the S&Ls.;

Earlier this month, the RTC had put the five savings and loans, which are under its direct control, on a fast track to be sold. Now, it has scheduled a meeting Tuesday to explain the new guidelines to prospective buyers and to start the bidding process again, Katsanos said. The new rules are expected to bring in more bidders, he said.

He wouldn’t say if Pacific Savings had any suitors.

The S&L; will probably need a high infusion of cash, said Bert Ely, an Alexandria, Va., industry consultant.

Pacific Savings, with more than $1 billion in assets and nearly $1.3 billion in liabilities at the end of June, lost more than $262 million in the last six years and $10 million more in the first six months of this year. In June, 1987, regulators installed new managers, who revived the S&L;’s moribund 11-branch network and mapped out a business plan. Despite the effort, regulators put the S&L; in conservatorship in February.