When an outsider moves to take control of a long-established local business, the process can be about as amicable as a custody fight in family court. Right now, two modest-sized U.S. banks, one in San Jose, Calif., the other in Pontiac, Mich., each with assets in the $300 million range, are embroiled in takeover proceedings that are even more acrimonious than usual. The reason: in both cases, the would-be investors are Arab nationals—the forerunners, as some impassioned local citizens see them, of a full-scale economic invasion by Middle East oil sheiks.
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