Business Bank Of California

UnionBanCal Corp., which has bank branches in California, Washington and Oregon, agreed to acquire Business Bancorp's Business Bank of California for as much as $134.9 million. The transaction is valued at $117.7 million to $134.9 million, depending on Business Bancorp's shareholders' choice to receive cash or stock and assuming UnionBanCal's average share price is between $32 and $55 for 30 days before the closing, UnionBanCal said.

UnionBanCal Corp., which has bank branches in California, Washington and Oregon, agreed to acquire Business Bancorp's Business Bank of California for as much as $134.9 million. The transaction is valued at $117.7 million to $134.9 million, depending on Business Bancorp's shareholders' choice to receive cash or stock and assuming UnionBanCal's average share price is between $32 and $55 for 30 days before the closing, UnionBanCal said.

San Bernardino-based Business Bank of California said shareholders have approved its merger with High Desert National Bank for $3.9 million in cash, subject to certain adjustments. . . . Sunnyvale-based Sandisk Corp., a maker of flash-memory products for computers, filed to sell 3 million common shares in hopes of raising $78 million to finance company growth, according to a filing with the SEC. . . . Woodland Hills-based Turbodyne Technologies Inc.

Veteran record executive Ron Fair has been named president of A&M Records. Fair, formerly senior vice president of artists and repertoire at RCA Records, will fill a job that has been vacant since 1999, when A&M was folded into Universal Music Group's Interscope division as part of Universal's merger with PolyGram. At RCA, Fair was credited with signing pop sensation Christina Aguilera.

A Southland nonprofit organization has raised a $15-million private-investment pool to purchase California rental housing at risk of being removed from federal subsidy programs. National Housing Development Corp. officials said they believe their new fund is the first of its kind in the nation to draw on private dollars to preserve affordable housing that is increasingly "flipping" to market rates. The fund promises investors an 8% annual average return. The group secured $13.5 million from nine financial institutions, which will receive federal Community Reinvestment Act credit for the three- to five-year investments, NHDC spokesman Bernard Sandalow said.

Tellers at a San Bernardino bank branch looked up one day last fall to see three men--two dressed in camouflage and one in a business suit--trying to push through the glass-enclosed vestibule at the front of the bank. At the moment the men opened the first door the metal detector alarm buzzed and the bullet-resistant interior door automatically locked shut. Defeated by one of the region's newest security innovations, the puzzled trio turned around and walked away.