First Alliance Will Acquire Standard Pacific Thrift

Mortgage lender First Alliance Corp. said Thursday that it has agreed to acquire Standard Pacific Savings, a nearly dormant thrift for the last two years, for up to $11 million in cash.

The publicly held Irvine firm said it will rename the thrift First Alliance Bank and use it to issue credit cards and other financial services products.

Standard Pacific once held loans and other assets totaling more than $420 million when it was the main financing arm for its parent company, home builder Standard Pacific Corp. in Newport Beach.

The parent company put the thrift’s operations on hold in early 1995 while it considered scuttling the thrift’s mortgage banking focus in a period of rising interest rates.

The parent company, after taking a long time to make up its mind, eventually decided to sell. The thrift is expected to have $120 million to $130 million in assets by the time federal regulators approve the deal, which is expected to occur later this year.

The final purchase price will be $575,000 more than the stockholders’ equity at the time the deal closes. First Alliance estimates the price to be $10 million to $11 million.

First Alliance focuses on consumer financing backed by home loans. It originates, purchases, sells and services nonconventional mortgages through 25 retail branches in the United States and three in the United Kingdom.