Landmark Bank Lowers Its Price for Rival in Brea : Finance: The $400,000 reduction for Founders National Bank reflects losses at the institution. The revised agreement must be resubmitted to regulators.

Landmark Bank, moving to establish itself as the dominant independent bank in north Orange County, has lowered its purchase price for Founders National Bank by $400,000 to reflect losses at the Brea bank.

Landmark, which has received all regulatory approvals to buy Founders for $4.9 million in cash and stock, must submit the revised agreement to the Securities and Exchange Commission. State and federal banking regulators will also be notified of the price change.

The SEC, which has to approve the stock portion of the sale, has promised to speed up the approval process so the sale can be completed by the end of November, said Craig D. Collette, president and chief executive of the La Habra bank and its parent company, Landmark Bancorp.

The new price would give Founders shareholders a total of $2 million in cash and $2.5 million in Landmark Bancorp stock.

Collette and Robert Knogge, Founders president and chief executive, said the adjustment was made after Founders charged off $269,000 for unanticipated loan losses, the latest of several charge-offs and operating losses the bank has experienced.

Founders will ask shareholders to approve the merger at a meeting likely to be scheduled in November. Founders directors hold a majority of the bank’s stock but less than the two-thirds necessary to approve the merger.

Meantime, Landmark has agreed to buy the Placentia branch of Bank of California. The branch, with about $20 million in deposits, would give Landmark a strong position in North Orange County.

That deal, which requires regulatory approval, is expected to close by the end of the year. The price is based on a formula--4% of certain deposits at the time of closing--and an undetermined amount of cash for selected assets. So far, the cost is expected to be about $630,000, Collette said.

“The Bank of California decided it was more of a business bank and did not want a retail branch,” Collette said. “We said we’d take it.”

Once the bank has completed the acquisitions, he said, it will have about $250 million in assets and will concentrate on expanding its operation in south Orange County, where it has a branch in Lake Forest.