Bank shareholders to vote on stock
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- April
- 27
Shareholders at Hudson Valley Bank in Yonkers will vote next month on allowing the board of directors to issue up to 15 million shares of preferred stock, a move that the bank said would provide it with more flexibility in future capital decisions.
President and Chief Executive James J. Landy said yesterday there are no plans on the board’s table to issue such stock. But having the ability to do so is “good forward thinking,” he added.
Preferred stock has an edge over common stock in the distribution of a company’s profits. Preferred dividends usually are paid out before dividends are paid to owners of common stock. Preferred sharesusually do not have voting rights, but they often give their owners higher-priority claims on the assets of a corporation.
The resolution that shareholders would consider at the May 28 meeting would leave it up to the board to decide how often to issue preferred stock, and under what terms.
Some large banks have issued preferred stock for the federal government as part of their participation in the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Hudson Valley opted last year not to seek TARP funds.
Landy said the bank is well-capitalized enough that it is funding its current branch expansion in neighboring Fairfield County, Conn., with existing funds. Hudson Valley Bank has opened five branches in Fairfield since last year, and plans to open a sixth in July. A new branch is under construction in Eastchester as well.
With $2.54 billion in assets at the end of 2008, Hudson Valley Bank is Westchester’s largest locally-based bank.
This entry was posted
on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 4:43 pm by Jerry Gleeson.
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