California Oaks State Bank, a community business bank based in Thousand Oaks, announced Feb. 17 that it plans to raise up to $10 million to buy back stock, pay down its bailout money and potentially snap up assets from failed banks.

California Oaks, which also has a location in Simi Valley, said it will offer 8 million shares at $12.50 each. The money raised would go toward repurchasing shares from current investors and executives at the $12.50 offering price. California Oaks shares closed at $9.80 on Feb. 17 and have not traded above $12 since mid-2008.

California Oaks has assets of $125.4 million and a tier-one risk-based capital ratio of 15.4 percent, well above federal guidelines. It said proceeds from a stock sale could also go toward paying down the $3.3 million in Troubled Asset Relief Program funding it received in January 2009 or buying up assets of failed banks from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as opportunities come up.

In California Oaks’ Feb. 17 earnings release, Chief Executive John Nerland said the bank’s financial results for 2009 were below expectations but was optimistic about its potential for growth.

“Over the past year the bank has made numerous improvements and changes in the way we do business,” Nerland said. “We have downsized the number of employees of the bank in an effort to become more efficient while increasing the asset size of the bank.”

In the earnings release, the bank said it cut its net loss for 2009 to $563,000. In 2008, the bank reported a net loss of $1.08 million.

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