Investors Bancorp Said to Eye Emigrant Branches

The potential sale of Emigrant Savings Bank has whetted the appetite of voracious Investors Bancorp Inc.

Kevin Cummings, the chief executive of Investors of Short Hills, N.J., told SNL Financial during the Sterne Agree Financial Institutions Investor Conference on Monday that he has received overtures about Emigrant.

"We've had investment bankers come in and show us that transaction," Cummings said.

American Banker reported last week that Emigrant's holding company, the $12 billion-asset New York Private Bank & Trust Co., has hired Barclays Capital to explore a sale of its online bank or its 32 branch network as early as this spring.

Emigrant and its parent company — controlled by the Milstein family, a big player in New York real estate — is trying to repair itself following big losses on real estate and commercial loans. It is exploring sales of parts of its business, rather than a whole-bank transaction, sources have said.

Cummings told SNL he might be interested in the branches if they are priced appropriately.

"When you look at someone trying to sell a bank or sell a branch network … you can't look at what the value was in 2006," he said.

Officials at Investors declined to comment on the report when called by American Banker.

Investors executives have said several times in the last year that they are on the hunt for deals, particularly before the mutual holding company converts to a fully shareholder-owned organization. Analysts have predicted that would happen early this year.

Investors would like to buy banks or thrifts with $2 billion or fewer of assets in northern New Jersey or around New York City before the conversion, Cummings said in a January interview with American Banker.

Cummings told SNL that Investors could raise $1 billion through its conversion.

"Post second step, you're almost in the penalty box for a while from an acquisition point of view, because you're not trading at a premium," Cummings said. "That's why … it would be great to [acquire] another mutual or another MHC prior to the second step, to enhance growth and improve the franchise."

Investors has completed five acquisitions since 2008, when Cummings joined the company. In January, it closed on its acquisition of Brooklyn Federal Bancorp.