Bank of Industry Seeks to Buy Charter National

Charter National Bancorp, parent of the single-branch Charter National Bank in Encino, is negotiating to be acquired for $6.1 million by Bank of Industry, a bank based in City of Industry.

A tentative proposal calls for Bank of Industry to pay $13.25 cash for each of Charter National’s 458,870 common shares outstanding. Insiders own about 40% of Charter National. The bank went public five years ago at an adjusted price of $8 per share. Frank Sabetta, Charter’s president, said the offer by Bank of Industry was too good to refuse.

Bank of Industry, with branches in City of Industry and San Francisco, has about $137 million in assets; Charter National’s assets total about $50 million.

Under the proposed acquisition, which must be approved by regulators and both banks’ directors and stockholders, the one branch of Charter National would change its name to Bank of Industry.