O.C. BUSINESS PLUS : Apex Mortgage Bids for Santa Ana-Based Impac

Apex Mortgage Capital Inc. said Wednesday that it has made a competing offer for Santa Ana-based Impac Commercial Holdings Inc.

Apex said it will pay about $7.09 a share in stock for the real estate investment trust, a 32% premium based on Impac’s closing stock price Tuesday.

Impac had 8.418 million shares outstanding as of May 5, which would value the purchase at $59 million.

Wall Street reacted coolly to the offer. Impac Commercial shares rose 56 cents to close at $5.94 in American Stock Exchange trading. Apex rose 63 cents to $12.38 a share.

The Apex offer challenges a previously announced deal between Impac and Amresco Capital Trust Inc., which said last month that it would buy Impac in a stock offer of about $5.91 a share.

Shares in Amresco rose 6 cents to close at $9.

Officials at Impac, which has been hard-hit by a credit crunch in the commercial mortgage market, issued no statement in response to the Apex offer.

As part of its offer, Los Angeles-based Apex also bought a 7.5% stake in Impac, according to a report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Under the terms of its offer, Apex said it will exchange 0.60328 shares for each Impac share. Apex is managed by executives of TCW Group Inc.