The parent of Santa Barbara-based Select Staffing has agreed to buy Walnut Creek-based Westaff for about $10.3 million in cash and perhaps $10.5 million in debt.

With $1.4 billion in revenue in 2007, Select Staffing is the Tri-Counties’ third largest private company. The company made 13 acquisitions in 2007 and nearly doubled in revenue from 2006 to 2007.

Under the deal, Select Staffing parent Koosharem Corp. would pay $1.25 a share for all common stock of Westaff not owned by DelStaff, or about half of Westaff’s common shares.

In a separate deal, Koosharem would trade first-lien debt for DelStaff’s common stock in Westaff; Koosharem would also get $2.7 million in outstanding loans made from DelStaff to Westaff.

In its initial offer to buy Westaff, made in late December, Koosharem said the debt it proposed to trade for DelStaff’s shares would be worth about $1.25 a share – about $10.5 million. But its latest announcement doesn’t say whether the $2.7 million in outstanding loans changes that figure.

On the news that Koosharem had agreed to the deal, Westaff shares shot up from the 75-cent range to nearly $1.20. The struggling Westaff – which has already sold its Australian and U.K. businesses – has seen its share prices battered over the last year, losing more than 60 percent of its market capitalization.

The deal is still subject to shareholder approval, but the companies said they hope to close it by the end of March.

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