Cash-strapped Santa Lucia Bancorp in Atascadero, Calif., has called off its plan to raise capital through a stock offering because it has found a buyer instead.
The $217 million-asset company announced Monday that it is selling itself to Mission Community Bancorp in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and that, as part of the deal, Mission would pay off the $4 million Santa Lucia received from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.
As a result, Santa Lucia has withdrawn its request to raise $5.9 million in a stock offering, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday.
For the Mission, the deal would more than double its assets, to roughly $460 million, and triple its number of branches to six offices along California's Central Coast. In a news release, Mission said it would pay Santa Lucia shareholders 35 cents a share — or about $648,000 — and provide additional funds to acquire Santa Lucia's holding company as a vehicle to hold and receive certain nonperforming assets of Santa Lucia Bank.
At March 31, Santa Lucia had roughly $25 million of nonperforming loans.
Mission is owned chiefly by an investment group led by well-known California investor Edward Carpenter. The group recapitalized Mission in 2010 with an investment of roughly $15.2 million.
