Irani, Jacobs join forces to lead group buying small local bank. (Los Angeles, California businessmen Ray Irani and Joseph Jacobs acquisition of Bank Audi (USA))

Ray Irani and Joseph Jacobs, heads of two of L.A. County's largest public companies, are leading an investment group that plans to buy a small, financially strong L.A.-based bank for $14 million.

The group has filed with state banking regulators to acquire the single-branch, $120 million-in-assets Bank Audi. Jacobs, chairman and founder of Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. and Irani, chairman and chief executive officer of Westwood-based Occidental Petroleum Corp., intend to increase the bank's size, said Fouad Khoury, controller of the downtown L.A.-based bank.…