Cal Fed Plans to Acquire First Citizens for $7 Million

First Citizens Bank, a small community bank in Sherman Oaks, has agreed to be acquired by Cal Fed Bancorp, the holding company for California Federal Bank and the fifth-largest savings and loan institution in the United States.

The agreement calls for Cal Fed to pay $9.62 a share for each of the 722,230 outstanding shares of First Citizens common stock, for a total of $6.95 million.

The sale is expected to be completed about Sept. 30 if the banks receive approval from regulatory authorities and First Citizens shareholders.

First Citizens earned $679,000 in 1995. Its assets at the end of last year were $43.1 million.

Cal Fed, with $14.3 billion in assets, has operations throughout California and Nevada.