SALT LAKE CITY Zions Bancorp has bought back a minority stake in California Bank and Trust, a subsidiary it sold to management in 1998, the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Zions is paying $66 million, or $28.2 million more than the stakes March 31 book value. This price follows a minority shareholder agreement that Zions entered into when it bought the unit at that time called The Sumitomo Bank of California in October 1998.
In the filing the company said that it sold the interest to bank management at the time of the acquisition to give them an incentive to substantially improve the performance of the bank.
That objective has been accomplished, Zions said.
