Director Plans to Take Control of Orange Bancorp : Banking: Philip J. Rocco, a Bank of Orange County director, has approval to more than double his stake in holding company to 49%.

A Bank of Orange County director who for two years has been buying stock in the bank’s holding company plans to take controlling interest in the once-troubled institution by more than doubling his stake to 49%.

Philip J. Rocco, owner of Rocco’s Truck, Van & Four-Wheel Drive Wrecking in Santa Ana, has received preliminary approval from regulators to acquire about 26% of the shares in Orange Bancorp, the Fountain Valley bank’s holding company. Rocco would be buying the shares from other stockholders. Their names and the prices of the shares were not available Thursday.

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, which gave initial approval, is analyzing the application more thoroughly and must approve or reject Rocco’s request by Oct. 24. Previously, regulators have approved Rocco’s buying, which began when he joined the boards of the corporation and its bank in mid-1990.

Last year, other directors and certain shareholders also bought more stock in Orange Bancorp, reducing the number of investors to about 530, said David W. Hoffman, the bank’s president. That buying spree came as the bank emerged from severe problems that almost forced it to merge with one of several banks that had sought to buy it. The biggest stumbling block to any merger, though, was long-pending litigation in Northern California, some of which still hampers the bank.

The bank, which opened in 1980, struggled with loan losses through much of the decade. And its part ownership of a Northern California bank proved disastrous after that bank collapsed and its minority shareholders and regulators sued Bank of Orange County on behalf of the failed institution.

The Fountain Valley bank has been profitable for the past four years but has had to use much of its earnings to improve its meager capital base. The bank posted a profit of $230,730 for the first six months this year and had $48 million in assets at the end of June. Its assets have since grown to $54.5 million, Hoffman said.