In Brief: More Suitors Expected To Join Mass. Bid War

Four additional banks or thrifts are said to be readying offers for Sandwich Bancorp, already the object of a bidding war between CompassBank of New Bedford, Mass., and Cape Cod Bank and Trust Co. of Hyannis, Mass.

The offers may come from UST Corp. of Boston; Chittenden Corp. of Burlington, Vt.; Peoples Heritage Financial Group of Portland, Me.; and Citizens Financial Group, a Providence, R.I., thrift co-owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland PLC and Bank of Ireland.

The tumult began on Feb. 2, when Sandwich Bancorp agreed to sell to CompassBank for $110 million in cash, or $53 per share. That prompted Cape Cod Bank and Trust to intervene last week with an offer of $60 a share in stock.

Sandwich Bancorp's closing share price was unchanged Friday at $54.25.

The other suitors think Sandwich's board will entertain further offers.

The situation could get more complicated because some of these would-be bidders may have already received confidential information from Sandwich Bancorp.

That means they may be legally barred from making a hostile bid, and thus would have to strike a friendly deal.

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