In Brief: S.F. Group to Pay $80M For 25-Branch Thrift

A San Francisco-based venture fund has announced plans to buy a Sacramento-area savings and loan for $80 million.

Belvedere Capital Partners Inc. would pay $22.05 for each outstanding share of Placer Savings Bank. Belvedere said the deal, announced last week, would be financed through its newly formed Placer Capital Co.

Placer Savings, based in Auburn, has $572 million of assets and 25 branches along the Interstate 80 corridor between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe. The savings and loan was founded in 1946.

"It's a dominant community bank in a thriving market," said Richard W. Decker Jr., president and co-founder of Belvedere Capital. "It has shown a steady record of growth and improved profitability."

The Placer Savings deal would add to Belvedere's growing family of banks. The two-year-old venture fund, which aims to take stakes in seven to 10 community banks and thrifts in California, recently bought 51% of Cerritos Valley Bancorp of Norwalk, Calif.

Last year it bought Bank of Orange County in Fountain, Calif., and Downey (Calif.) National Bank. It is also a major shareholder in Security First Bank of Fullerton, Calif., and National Business Bank of Torrance, Calif.

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