Investors in N.J. Getting Closer to Second-Step Conversion

Investors Bancorp (ISBC) in Short Hills, N.J., is set to complete its purchase of Gateway Community Financial in Sewell, N.J., next week.

The $14 billion-asset company said earlier this week that it plans to close the Gateway acquisition on Jan. 10. Investors said last month that it plans to pursue its long-awaited second-step conversion after it buys the $301 million-asset Gateway.

Investors agreed in April to pay an undisclosed sum for Gateway. Investors will no longer be permitted to buy mutual thrifts after it becomes a fully public company. It completed a delayed merger with another New Jersey mutual thrift, Roma Financial, in December.

Investors has also significantly expanded its presence in New York in recent years. It bought Brooklyn Federal Savings Bank and Marathon National Bank in 2012.