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SALINAS - 02/02/06 - Rabobank, N.A., the financial services provider specializing in community banking and agricultural finance, has completed the $371 million acquisition of Central Coast Bancorp, the holding company for Community Bank of Central California.

The acquisition merges the operations of both banks, increases Rabobank N.A.'s retail branch network to 39 locations from the Mexican border to the Sacramento area, and boosts Rabobank N.A.'s total assets to more than $4.25 billion. 

The transaction "is a further step in the bank's strategy to expand its service platform in California's agricultural heartland and in key agricultural communities across the US," said a spokesman for the bank.

The acquisition calls for all of Community Bank of Central California's 14 branches to remain open for business and operate under the Community Bank of Central California name for several months, before being integrated into the existing Rabobank network, the spokesman said.

Rabobank, N.A. was created in 2002 when the former Valley Independent Bank was acquired by the Rabobank Group.

Headquartered in The Netherlands, the Rabobank Group was founded as a finance cooperative over a century ago by a group of Dutch farmers. Today, the bank claims more than $600 billion in assets, and 9 million customers in 37 countries around the world.

Prior to the acquisition, Central Coast Bancorp was one of the largest independent banks in Central California with total assets of more than $1.25 billion.

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