Business Professional Bank

West Coast Bancorp, trying to salvage its struggling Sunwest Bank unit, said Wednesday that it has agreed to sell its majority interest in its healthy Sacramento bank subsidiary in a deal worth up to $7.5 million in cash and stock. The holding company is expected to put nearly $4.5 million from the sale of its 94% stake in Sacramento First National Bank into Sunwest Bank, a Tustin bank operating under severe restrictions imposed by federal regulators. Sunwest, with $186.

Out-of-state bankers continue to show an interest in California's community banks. Among the more recent ventures pending are twin deals that West Coast Bancorp in Newport Beach has arranged with Hovde Financial Inc. in Washington. West Coast has been using most of its cash to bolster its wholly owned operating subsidiary, Sunwest Bank in Tustin, and now needs to boost its own equity and pay off some debts.

The parent company of Sunwest Bank in Tustin said Tuesday that it has put $3.6 million in capital--the final reserve against losses--into the bank to comply with federal mandates and that it expects to remain profitable this year. Long-struggling West Coast Bancorp used the cash it received from the January sale of its Sacramento First National Bank unit to bolster its remaining subsidiary. The cash came too late to help the Newport Beach parent company last year.

Betty Davenport of the First National Bank of Ventura was surprised recently at the long list of companies she turned up when searching for Ventura manufacturers with annual sales of $1.5 million to $5 million. "Having grown up here, I always think of Ventura as a small hometown," said Davenport, who has lived in the area for 41 years and has been a part of the local banking community for 26 years. "I was amazed at the . . . wealth Ventura has."