In Brief: Error-Plagued Merger Completed

Portland, Ore.-based U.S. Bancorp has completed its acquisition of $210 million-asset Business and Professional Bank, boosting U.S. Bancorp's presence in Sacramento and Yolo counties.

Under the agreement, Business and Professional stockholders will get $18 in cash per share.

The closing came just over a month after the two banks agreed to reinstate their December 1996 merger agreement. The deal had been endangered by a blunder in late January, when Business and Professional officials accidentally enclosed a confidential list of problem borrowers in proxy materials sent to shareholders.

Business and Professional officials worked with borrowers to avoid possible legal claims, settling with more than half for cash payments or adjustments to their loans.

U.S. Bancorp, which has $33 billion of assets, already has 92 branches in northern California, with $3.5 billion of assets in the state. The company is slated to be acquired by Minneapolis-based First Bank System Inc. in the third quarter.

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