Bank of Yorba Linda Makes Its Nasdaq Debut

Shareholders of Bank of Yorba Linda gave up a lot to get what they wanted--a ready market to trade their stock--and some took their rewards Tuesday in a public offering that nearly doubled their investment.

The bank sold 725,000 new shares--representing about 68% of the shares outstanding--and began trading on the Nasdaq market system. The amount of new stock issued left existing shareholders in a minority position.

But the stock, priced at $11 a share, opened at $11.25 and climbed to $11.75 before settling back to $11.25 a share. The bank’s existing shareholders previously saw little movement and paid high costs to trade through a market maker at much lower prices, so they took advantage of the easier trading.

“One person who had close to 5% of the bank’s stock had bought at $5 or $6 a share and sold at more than $11 a share,” said Robert Ucciferri, the bank’s president.

Trading in the so-called pink sheets through a market maker, he said, the bank had learned of only two trades earlier this year and only four trades last year. “That’s like not trading,” he said. “The highest it got was $6.50.”

The bank expects to clear $7.4 million after paying underwriting fees and costs, Ucciferri said. It will use $6.17 million of the proceeds Friday to close its pending acquisition of the Bank of Westminster, which will give the Bank of Yorba Linda more than $115 million in loans and other assets and four Orange County branches.