Hampden Bancorp (HBNK) in Springfield, Mass., has hired an investment bank to help it explore a possible sale.
The $649 million-asset company said late Thursday that it had retained Sterne, Agee & Leach, making the announcement after it prevailed in a bitter contest with an activist investor.
Hampden's decision comes a year after a
Still, the company's shareholders shot down a similar proposal at Hampden's annual meeting on Tuesday. The company scored another victory over its dissident investors when shareholders approved four directors
Shareholders did approve a so-called say-on-pay measure on Hampden's executive compensation, which could limit the pay of the comapny's management next year and in future years. Clover had argued that management was overpaid, which in turn lowered returns for shareholders.
Proxy advisory firms that weighed in before the shareholder vote
Hampden emphasized that the decision to hire Sterne Agee does not necessarily foretell a sale.
"No decision has been made as to whether the company will engage in a transaction or transactions resulting from its consideration of strategic alternatives and no assurance can be given that any transaction or transactions will occur," the company said in its Thursday news release.
Hampden's largest shareholder is an employee stock ownership plan, which controls 10.9% of its shares.