Ventura County National Bancorp Raises Funds

Ventura County National Bancorp said it has raised about $1.56 million through a private placement of common stock and promissory notes to its directors and other investors.

The money raised was used to retire a loan that funded the company’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan. It said the loan repayment would save $70,000 in interest expense in 1994.

The investors purchased 719,580 shares at just under $2 each and $125,000 in promissory notes.

The company also said that it would stop its commercial paper borrowing by year-end, as part of its effort to address problems identified by banking regulators. It currently has $7.8 million in outstanding commercial paper debt.

As a result of these moves, the company said its total debt outstanding would be reduced to $125,000 as of Dec. 31, from $7.7 million on Sept. 30.

Ventura County National Bancorp is the holding company for Ventura County National Bank and Frontier Bank.