Thrift closed

NewAmerica Savings Bank, a profitable thrift with its headquarters in Orange County, has been closed and its assets and deposits sold to California Federal Bank as part of the acquisition of its parent company by a New York investment consortium.

The investment group includes an affiliate of the New York investment banking firm Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc. NewAmerica was liquidated and its single retail branch in Camarillo sold to Los Angeles-based Cal Fed because federal law prohibits investment banking firms from owning S&Ls.;

The thrift’s former headquarters in Irvine is now a support office for parent Franklin Mortgage Capital Corp. and its Tustin mortgage lending office has become a branch of Franklin, a Virginia-based mortgage banker.

James Heitz, former president of NewAmerica and now senior executive vice president of Franklin Mortgage, said only one of the company’s more than 100 Orange County employees was laid off because of the sale.