Mercury S&L; Is Acquired by Security Pacific

Security Pacific Corp. said Friday that it has acquired the 24 branches and some of the assets of Mercury Savings & Loan, the insolvent thrift based in Huntington Beach that was seized earlier this year by federal regulators.

The Los Angeles-based bank holding company paid $44.4 million to acquire $1.4 billion of Mercury’s deposits, $330 million of its assets and its offices--including five branches in Orange County and 12 in Los Angeles.

The Resolution Trust Corp. retains $1.2 billion of Mercury’s assets, which consist largely of multiple family residential loans and commercial loans. The RTC provided Security Pacific with $859 million to cover the difference between the liabilities and assets it assumed.

RTC spokeswoman Kate Spears said the resolution of Mercury ultimately will cost the taxpayers $34 million.

Jerry A. Grundhofer, president and chief executive of Security Pacific National Bank, said the company acquired Mercury because the thrift--crippled by a change in federal accounting rules for S&Ls; and some bad commercial loans--fit well with its existing customer base.

Mercury was taken over by regulators Feb. 23, after a $40-million loss for 1989 drove it into insolvency. It since has been run by RTC.