Western Bancorp Completes Buy

Western Bancorp said Tuesday that it completed its acquisition of Santa Monica Bank for about $198.4 million in stock and cash.

Western Bancorp said Santa Monica Bank will be merged into its Western Bank unit, which changed its name to Santa Monica Bank.

Shareholders were given the choice to receive either $28 a share in cash or 0.875 Western Bancorp common shares for each Santa Monica Bank common share. Of the 7.1 million Santa Monica Bank shares outstanding at the time of the acquisition, about 57.3% elected to receive cash and about 42.7% will receive Western Bancorp shares. About 5 million Western Bancorp common shares are being issued.

Western Bancorp’s two banking units, Santa Monica Bank and Southern California Bank, had more than $2 billion in assets as of Dec. 31.