Parent of Home Savings to Buy New York Thrift
The parent of Home Savings of America said Monday that it moved to expand its thrift network in the Northeast by agreeing to buy a New York savings and loan in a deal valued at $300 million.
Los Angeles-based H. F. Ahmanson & Co. said it plans to merge the 13-branch Home Savings Bank of New York into Bowery Savings Bank, one of New York’s oldest and best-known financial institutions that Ahmanson acquired in 1987. The acquisition and plans to merge the institutions must be approved by federal regulators, Ahmanson officials said.
Home Savings Bank of New York has deposits of $1.15 billion and posted net income of $19.1 million in 1989. Bowery Savings Bank operates 26 branches in the New York metropolitan area and has deposits of $5 billion.
Under the agreement, Home Savings Bank of New York shareholders will swap their shares for newly issued Ahmanson common stock valued at about $25 a share. The price may vary under a formula approved by both firms.
On Monday, Ahmanson shares fell 12.5 cents per share to close at $17.375 in New York Stock Exchange trading. Home Savings Bank of New York shares, traded over the counter, rose $3.875 per share to finish at $18.875.
To discourage any new bidders, Ahmanson was also given the option to buy nearly four million Home Savings Bank of New York shares at $15 each should another suitor succeed in buying the New York thrift.
Home Savings Bank of New York Chairman Richard A. Kraemer will join Bowery as chairman and chief executive and will be an executive vice president of Ahmanson and a director of Home Savings of America. Home Savings Bank of New York directors will also become directors at Bowery.
Ahmanson says it does not expect to close any branches under the proposed merger, but certain back office staff and operations may be eliminated, officials said.
Along with Bowery, Ahmanson currently owns Savings of America, which operates 18 branches in Long Island and New York with deposits of more than $1.2 billion, and Bowery Mortgage Co.
