PCSB in N.Y. Details Plans for Mutual Conversion, Stock Sale

PCSB Bank in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., is planning to convert to stock ownership, ending 145 years as a depositor-owned mutual.

The $1.3 billion-asset institution, founded as Putnam County Savings Bank in 1871, said it expects to conduct an initial public offering next year.

PCSB disclosed in a registration statement Monday that it plans to sell as many as 21.2 million shares of common stock – valued at $10 each – initially to employees and depositors, and then to the public. Company officials declined to comment, but PCSB's filing revealed a business plan that calls for expanding commercial-and-industrial and commercial real estate lending, especially in affluent Westchester County.

An independent audit obtained last month from RP Financial in Arlington, Va., concluded that PCSB's value ranged from a low point of $136 million to a "super maximum" of $211.6 million. The bank reported net income of $2.4 million through the first nine months of this year.

A significant number of mutual institutions have been seeking conversions in recent years.

In June, the $2.3 billion-asset HarborOne Bancorp in Brockton, Mass. completed a partial conversion, selling a 45% stake to investors. A month later, the $490 million-asset Randolph Bancorp in Stoughton, Mass., converted and used part of the $57 million it raised to buy First Eastern Bankshares in Boston.

The $55 million-asset Community Savings Bank in Caldwell, Ohio, disclosed this fall that it plans to raise up to $4.9 million by converting.