(February 1981): Don Dixon Buys Vernon Savings and Loan for $5.8 Million Cash

About one month after their first meeting in Austin (see (early 1981)), Don Dixon and R.W. Tanner sign an agreement selling Vernon Savings and Loan to Dixon for $5.8 million in cash, or about 1.4 times its book value. The deal already had verbal clearances, to Tanner, from the Texas state thrift regulator and the federal government’s regional thrift regulators in Little Rock, Arkansas. [O'Shea, 1991, pp. 8] However, it will turn out that the papers signed at this time are not the final word on the terms of Dixon’s eventual acquisition of Vernon Savings and Loan. There is to be at least one more round of negotiations, which will result in a considerable reduction of the cash portion of the transaction. The deal is not finally consummated for nearly another year. [Pizzo, Fricker, and Muolo, 1989, pp. 191]