American General to Buy Thrift

Home builder Standard Pacific Corp. said Friday that it has found another buyer for its nearly dormant thrift institution, Standard Pacific Savings in Newport Beach. A unit of Houston-based insurer and lender American General Corp. has agreed to buy the thrift for about $8 million. The transaction, subject to the approval of federal regulators, is expected to close by Dec. 31. Last year, Standard Pacific agreed to sell the thrift to Irvine mortgage banking company First Alliance Corp. for about $11 million, but federal regulators failed to OK the deal by the deadline set by the companies.