Porterville’s Sierra Bancorp to acquire San Luis Obispo bank

Sierra Bancorp, the Porterville-based parent of Bank of the Sierra, announced Tuesday that it signed a deal to acquire Coast Bancorp of San Luis Obispo County for $13.8 million.

Under the agreement, Coast Bancorp shareholders will receive about 75 percent of the purchase price in Bank of the Sierra stock and 25 percent in cash, said Kevin McPhaill, Bank of the Sierra president and chief executive officer. Those numbers can fluctuate, however, depending on the market value of the bank’s stock when the deal closes, he said.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of the year.

Coast Bancorp is the parent company for Coast National Bank, founded in 1997. The bank has branches in Arroyo Grande, Paso Robles and Atascadero. The company, as of Sept. 30, had assets of about $146.4 million.

“Bank of the Sierra is the appropriate fit to continue the commitment by Coast National Bank for the past 18 years in our communities,” said Anita Robinson, Coast Bancorp’s president and chief executive officer. “Our customers will have access to many more products and services together with the additional benefit of a larger lending limit enabling us to meet all of the needs of our customers and our community.”

Bank of the Sierra, traded on the Nasdaq market under the stock symbol BSRR, has about $1.7 billion in assets. The company was launched in 1978 and operates 28 branches in Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern counties and offers online banking services. It puts special focus on agriculture lending.

“Expansion to California’s Central Coast presents an exciting growth opportunity for Bank of the Sierra,” McPhaill said.

This is the third acquisition for the company since 2000. The bank acquired Sierra National Bank in 2000 and Santa Clara Valley Bank in 2014.

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 11:36 AM with the headline "Porterville’s Sierra Bancorp to acquire San Luis Obispo bank."