U.S. Bancorp Switching from Pooling on Takeover

A desire to buy its own stock has prompted U.S. Bancorp to change from pooling to purchase accounting for its pending acquisition of California Bancshares.

The Portland, Ore.-based bank said Monday it would make the switch, which it claimed would be good for shareholders.

According to senior vice president Donald F. Bowler Jr., $32 billion- asset U.S. Bancorp initially expected earnings dilution of 5 cents a share in 1996 from the acquisition.

Mr. Bowler said the dilution would come from the issuance of 9.7 million U.S. Bancorp shares to make the purchase.

Because pooling rules restrict stock buybacks, U.S. Bancorp would have been constrained in its ability to lessen the earnings hit by repurchasing stock. Purchase accounting rules have no such restrictions.

Joseph. K. Morford, an analyst with Alex. Brown & Sons, said he believed U.S. Bancorp may have been motivated to increase share buybacks by the more than 13% decline in its stock price since it announced the California Bancshares acquisition plan Feb. 12. U.S. Bancorp plans to complete the purchase in the third quarter.

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