1st Business Bank

Millionaire businessman John E. Anderson offered Tuesday to buy 1st Business Bank of Los Angeles for about $89 million in cash in a transaction that would turn the publicly held bank into a private concern. Anderson, a former director of the bank, offered $27 a share in cash for all outstanding stock. The stock is priced at about $21.50 on the over-the-counter market. The purchase price would be three times the book value of the bank--essentially assets minus liabilities.

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Richard Riordan, who attacked rival Michael Woo for ties to a bank that had issued no home loans to African-Americans, was himself a founder and former director of a bank that made no home loans to African-Americans or Asian-Americans in the last three years, records and interviews show. A Riordan mailer sent out days before Tuesday's primary election hit hard at Woo's "Cathay Bank Connection"--a reference to a Chinatown-based bank with long ties to the Woo family.

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Richard Riordan, who attacked rival Michael Woo for ties to a bank that had issued no home loans to African-Americans, was himself a founder and former director of a bank that made no home loans to African-Americans or Asian-Americans in the last three years, records and interviews show. A Riordan mailer sent out days before Tuesday's primary election hit hard at Woo's "Cathay Bank Connection"--a reference to a Chinatown-based bank with long ties to the Woo family.

Saying it wants to concentrate on private banking for wealthy clients, Bank of New York Mellon Corp. has agreed to sell its Mellon 1st Business Bank of Los Angeles, a small commercial lender, to U.S. Bank. U.S. Bank, part of U.S. Bancorp of Minneapolis, has been expanding in the western United States. In buying Mellon 1st Business Bank, U.S. Bank would acquire $1.1 billion in loans and assume $2.7 billion in deposits. The transaction is expected to close by the end of June, subject to regulatory approvals, the banks said in announcing the deal.

* Bruce Schafer has been named vice president for medical risk management at FHP International Corp., a Fountain Valley health maintenance organization. He was previously senior vice president for claims and risk management for the Washington State Physician's Insurance Assn. * Michele Ryan has joined Tokai Bank of California as regional vice president of its Orange County regional commercial loan center. She will be responsible for all business banking activities in Orange County.

* Orange County banking executive Donald Solsby has joined Mellon 1st Business Bank as South Bay regional vice president. Mellon 1st is part of Los Angeles-based Mellon West, which is a division of global financial services firm Mellon Financial Corp. * Benjamin Levin has been named principal in charge of interior design at WWCOT, a Santa Monica-based architecture and interiors firm. Levin had been director of interiors at Johnson Fain and Pereira Associates.

Millionaire businessman John E. Anderson offered Tuesday to buy 1st Business Bank of Los Angeles for about $89 million in cash in a transaction that would turn the publicly held bank into a private concern. Anderson, a former director of the bank, offered $27 a share in cash for all outstanding stock. The stock is priced at about $21.50 on the over-the-counter market. The purchase price would be three times the book value of the bank--essentially assets minus liabilities.

The largest banks, thrifts and savings and loans in California, ranked by asset size.

Los Angeles' tallest skyscraper, a centerpiece of the skyline now crowned by a halo of colored lights that glow purple and gold when the Lakers win and red and green during the Christmas holidays, will get a new adornment this morning. Weather permitting, a helicopter will lift two 7-ton signs to the top of the former Library Tower, each bearing the name of the building's largest corporate tenant, US Bank.