Hostile Bids and Disruptive Offers
May 9, 2012 11:04 AM
(Image: ThinkStock)
Neighbors Become Foes
In 2010, a friendly rivalry in Oregon turned nasty when Community Bancshares launched an unsolicited bid for BEO Bancorp. BEO's executives learned about the offer by reading in a local paper that Community had applied with regulators to buy up to 100% of their company. BEO's shareholders and customers sent hundreds of letters to the Fed opposing the application and Community eventually gave up. (Image: ThinkStock)
Bluegrass Battle
Porter Bancorp Inc. in Louisville tried to take over Citizens First in Bowling Green, Ky., in October 2009. Citizens First's board rejected the unsolicited offer a month later. (Image: ThinkStock)
Persistence Doesn't Pay Off
Crescent Capital VI, a private-equity firm in Bellevue, Wash., unsuccessfully tried to take over Cowlitz Bancorp. in Longview, in July 2007 and again in January 2009. Regulators closed Cowlitz in September 2010. (Image: ThinkStock)
Too Little Too Late
Frustrated with Cape Fear Bank's lackluster performance and management's reluctance to consider merger options, Maurice J. Koury made a hostile bid in January 2008 to buy the Wilmington, N.C. bank for $45.2 million in cash. Koury's bid failed, and regulators closed the coastal bank in April 2009. (Image: ThinkStock)
Stealing the Deal
UCBH Holdings in San Francisco thought it had a solid agreement to buy Great Eastern Bank in October 2005, but it fell through when Cathay General offered more money for the New York bank. (Image: ThinkStock)
Insider Interference
Sky Bancorp of Bowling Green, Ohio, bought GLB Bancorp in October 2003 after GLB rejected a last-minute hostile bid from a former chairman. Sky agreed to buy GLB in July but Jerome Osborne objected to the deal and resigned in protest before launching a failed bid. (Image: ThinkStock)
Hostility in Paradise
Central Pacific made a hostile bid for CB Bancshares in early 2003. CB's board rejected it, saying a merger would harm Hawaii's economy by causing branch closings and numerous layoffs. Local business owners also objected. CB's board came around a year later, after Central Pacific raised its offer by nearly 50%, to $421 million. (Image: ThinkStock)
Battle in the South
In 2001 SunTrust lost a bitter hostile bid for Wachovia in Winston-Salem, N.C., which First Union in Charlotte had already agreed to buy. First Union, led by Ken Thompson, would buy Wachovia, taking its name and making its headquarters in Charlotte. (Image: Bloomberg News)
Tussle in the Big Apple
In 2000, John A. Kanas and North Fork Bancorp launched a $1.9 billion hostile bid for Dime Bancorp in New York. His attempt to buy Dime failed, but Dime's plans to sell to itself to Hudson United also fell apart. Washington Mutual ended up buying Dime a year later. (Image: Bloomberg News)
