BANKING/FINANCE : Pacific National’s Assets to Grow 50% With Acquisition

Pacific National Bank will grow by about 50% once the dust settles from its acquisition of the Beverly Hills headquarters of failed Unity Savings & Loan.

The Newport Beach bank led a group of institutions that paid a combined $1.6 million for Unity’s deposits, a chunk of loans and other assets. Federal regulators had been operating Unity since seizing it last February.

For Pacific National, which has three branches in Orange County, the purchase of the Beverly Hills office for $750,000 gives it the presence it has been seeking in that area, said Larry Luckey, the bank’s president.

The Unity branch had $126.3 million in deposits, or a bit more than Pacific National’s $125 million in deposits. But much of Unity’s deposits were jumbo certificates of deposit that had been paying high interest rates. Account holders have been moving those deposits to other institutions, and Pacific National expects to end up with about $60 million in deposits, Luckey said.

Pacific National also bought up to $60 million in construction and commercial-industrial mortgage loans, and it has 90 days to review those assets and return what it doesn’t want to regulators. Regulators had expected to turn $100 million in assets to the bank, but much of that turned out to be bad assets that regulators had to keep.

American Savings Bank in Irvine picked up $124.1 million of Unity’s deposits from two branches for $190,000. It plans to move the deposits from Unity’s offices in Brentwood and the Mid-Wilshire District to nearby American branches within three months. It did not buy any assets.

Bank of Los Angeles and Olympic National Bank in Los Angeles paid $265,000 and $400,500, respectively, for each of the remaining two Unity branches and $140.4 million in deposits. Neither bought any assets.

Altogether, Unity had $418.3 million in assets. Regulators expect that the thrift’s failure will cost taxpayers $57.3 million.