Altabancorp™ Board Confirms Receipt of Letter From Gunther Family 13D Group
19 Enero 2021 - 3:30PM
Business Wire
Altabancorp™ (Nasdaq: ALTA) (the “Company” or “Alta”), the
parent company of Altabank™, confirmed that its Board of Directors
has received a letter (“Letter”) from the designated
representatives of the Section 13D group consisting of various
Gunther family members and their related entities (“Gunther Family
13D Group”) that was filed as part of the Amendment No. 2 to
Schedule 13D on January 14, 2021.
“Our Board takes its fiduciary responsibilities seriously and
always welcomes the opportunity to hear from our shareholders and
to consider ideas that may drive shareholder value creation,” said
Richard Beard, Chair of the Company. “The Board will carefully
review and consider the Letter. Members of our Board have had
several meetings with the Gunther representatives since their
original Schedule 13D filing in an attempt to ascertain the Gunther
Family 13D Group’s specific areas of concern with the Company’s
strategic plan. Our Board remains open to continuing those
discussions with the Gunther representatives. Our Board and
management team are committed to creating value for all
shareholders, and we will continue to take actions that will enable
us to achieve this objective. For several years, mergers and
acquisitions have been—and continue to be—part of our strategic
plan. Altabank™ has successfully executed three transactions with
assets totaling over $600 million, and our current management team
has extensive experience successfully executing M&A
transactions with other banks.”
“We appreciate and acknowledge the legacy of the institution,
its community bank roots, and our loyal associates, all of which
have provided us the foundation to make necessary changes in
processes, improve efficiencies, and implement new technology to
help position us to become the best bank for your business,” said
Len Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company.
“Our core values remain the same, with the addition of ‘Innovation’
and ‘Execution’ as values we need to master to confront the rapidly
changing banking environment and advances in technology, making it
easier for businesses and individuals to bank remotely and staying
competitive with new players in the financial services sector. We
have retained a renowned leadership development and culture change
management company to help us strengthen and build a unique culture
of commitment, accomplishment, and accountability, as we continue
to transform Altabank™ from a local community bank to a regional
community bank that caters to small-to-medium sized businesses,
their principals, and their employees. We believe this is a market
segment that is underserved by both the larger and local community
banks. We have made significant investments in technology to
improve our clients’ experience and to make it easier for them to
do business with us. However, we will always be a high-touch
banking platform that offers financial solutions to address our
clients’ needs. Lastly, we have aggressively moved from primarily a
construction and real estate lender to a more diversified
commercial lender with the establishment of three commercial
banking centers that offer C&I loans and specialize in business
verticals, including homebuilder financing and investor commercial
real estate lending.”
CEO Williams continued, “Over the past several years, our total
assets have grown by approximately $1.2 billion to over $3.3
billion, a 19.5% annual growth rate. Total deposits have grown by
approximately $1.1 billion, to over $2.9 billion, a 20% annual
growth rate over the same period. Altabank™ has grown to hold the
sixth largest deposit market share in Utah. Tangible book value per
share has increased by just under $6.00 over the past several
years, an almost 16% annual growth rate. We also paid dividends
totaling $1.46 per share over the same period. When dividends paid
are combined with the increase in tangible book value per share,
our shareholders have earned an annual return of over 20% over the
past several years, totaling approximately $140 million TSR over
such period. Over the same period, we have aggressively built a
fortress balance sheet to weather economic uncertainty. We believe
our balance sheet strength is reflected in the level of allowance
for credit losses held by us, and our strong regulatory capital
position. In addition, our focus to reduce loan concentrations and
the tightening of our overall underwriting standards, over the past
couple of years, will help to mitigate the potential negative
effects the economic shutdown from the pandemic may have on our
loan portfolio. These results could not have been achieved without
our client-centric associates, including many experienced
professionals who have joined us from larger organizations to help
us realize our goal of being the best place to bank, work, and
invest.”
CEO Williams added, “I’m proud of the financial performance our
strategic plan has shown to date. While we have maintained a strong
balance sheet, we are consistently achieving above peer returns.
Despite near zero interest rates and the significant amount of
liquidity we hold, our net interest margin is in the 96th
percentile and our return on assets is in the 91st percentile of
our peers. We believe the combination of a fortress balance sheet
and above peer returns places us in the unique position to
aggressively grow organically and to compete for mergers and
acquisitions in the future with other banks throughout the
Intermountain West.”
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., A Stifel Company, is acting
as financial advisor to the Company. Jones Day is acting as legal
advisor to the Company.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain certain forward-looking
statements that are based on management's current expectations
regarding the Company’s financial performance. Forward-looking
statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate
strictly to historical or current facts. They often include the
words “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate” or words of similar
meaning, or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,”
“should,” “could” or “may.” Factors that could cause future results
to vary materially from current management expectations include,
but are not limited to, the duration and impact of the COVID-19
pandemic, natural disasters, general economic conditions, economic
uncertainty in the United States, changes in interest rates,
deposit flows, real estate values, costs or effects of
acquisitions, competition, changes in accounting principles,
policies or guidelines, legislation or regulation, and other
economic, competitive, governmental, regulatory and technological
factors (including external fraud and cybersecurity threats)
affecting the Company's operations, pricing, products and services.
These and other important factors are detailed in the Company’s
Form 10-K, Form 10-Qs, and various other securities law filings
made periodically by the Company, copies of which are available
from the Company’s website. The Company undertakes no obligation to
release publicly the result of any revisions to these
forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or
circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect
the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by
law.
About Altabancorp™
Altabancorp™ (Nasdaq: ALTA) is the bank holding company for
Altabank™, a full-service bank, providing loans, deposit and cash
management services to businesses and individuals through 26 branch
locations from Preston, Idaho to St. George, Utah. Altabank™ is the
largest community bank in Utah with total assets of $3.4 billion.
Our clients have direct access to bankers and decision-makers, who
work with clients to understand their specific needs and offer
customized financial solutions. Altabank™ has been serving
communities in Utah and southern Idaho for more than 100 years.
More information about Altabank™ is available at www.altabank.com.
More information about Altabancorp™ is available at
www.altabancorp.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210119005848/en/
Investor Relations Contact Mark K. Olson Executive Vice
President and Chief Financial Officer Altabancorp™ 1 East Main
Street American Fork UT 84003 investorrelations@altabancorp.com
Phone: 801-642-3998
AltaBancorp (NASDAQ:ALTA)
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