ASB Bancorp in N.C. to Add Activist and Nominee to Board

ASB Bancorp in Asheville, N.C., has agreed to appoint to its board the activist investor Lawrence Seidman and another representative picked by Seidman.

As a result of the agreement, Seidman will withdraw his demand that ASB attempt to find a buyer for the $798 million-asset company. He also agreed to refrain from nominating additional directors and to support ASB's board nominees. Seidman owned about 5.9% of ASB as of April.

Seidman, of Parsippany, N.J., will join the board of ASB, the holding company for Asheville Savings Bank, in May. His handpicked nominee, Kenneth Wrench, will also join the board in May. Wrench is an owner of Augusta Homes, a luxury homebuilder in Cornelius, N.C.

Seidman first contacted ASB in August to warn of a potential proxy fight. He later elevated his challenge, saying ASB should put itself up for sale and that he had received calls from other banks expressing an interest in buying ASB.

In August the activist firm Firefly Value Partners pressed ASB to sell itself. Firefly later withdrew its demand and in November sold all its shares in ASB back to the company.

Olshan Frome Wolosky was legal counsel to Seidman on the agreement. Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough was counsel to ASB.