Commercial Banker BYL Sells for $52 Mil

ORANGE COUNTY, CA-A San Francisco-based bank holding company has agreed to pay $52 million for BYL Bancorp, a Southland- based lender that specializes in commercial real estate loans.

Terms of the agreement call for San Francisco’s First Banks America Inc. to pay $18.50 in cash for each share of City of Orange-based BYL. In a joint statement, executives of both lending institutions say they expect no problem getting regulatory and shareholder approval and that the deal should close sometime in the fourth quarter.

BYL’s seven offices are in Orange County and neighboring Riverside County. It had $278 million in assets as of March 31.