DCB Financial Corp. in Lewis Center, Ohio, said will hire an investment bank to help it explore ways to raise capital.
The $616 million-asset company said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that it would raise capital to "satisfy regulatory capital requirements" and to fund future growth. The company focused much of its efforts this year on improving credit quality and efficiency, and is now in a place to raise its Tier 1 capital ratio above 9%, the filing said.
The company has been operating under a regulatory order from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. since October 2010.
John Ustaszewski, the company's chief financial officer, said in a release attached to the filing that the company hopes to raise capital by mid-2012, "although that timing depends on many factors which we cannot control." The company said that existing shareholders would be permitted to participate in any proposed offering.
DCB also said it will start paying directors in common stock instead of cash. Under the new plan, the company will provide funds to an independent third party that will then buy company common stock in the open market on behalf of individual directors.
"As we've continued to formulate and develop and implement our strategic plan for 2012 and beyond, one of the principle foundations of our plan is to develop increased ownership of our stock by the board and senior officers," Ronald Seiffert, the company's president and CEO, said in a release. "It has been difficult for them to purchase stock in the past two years due to a variety of restrictions. Our board and senior officers have a vested interest in the future of the company and we feel it's important to send a message to our shareholders that we believe in the direction of the bank."
