Another CU-Convert GoesPublic

WAYCROSS, Ga. - (08/24/04) -- Atlantic Coast Federal Corp., a bankholding company known as Atlantic Coast FCU until November 2000,began the process of going public Monday by offering stock todepositors at $10 a share. After selling shares to depositors, thecredit union-turned-bank will sell shares to the general public.The credit union convert, which has almost doubled its asset basesince converting to a mutual savings bank, plans to use the almost$50 million it hopes to raise in the offering to finance continuedexpansion. The proposed offering has garnered a lot of excitementin the market, with almost $100 million of 'hot money' deposited inthe first quarter of the year, as speculators have sought to get inon the ground floor of the offering. Officers and directors of theformer credit union have pledged to buy 654,000 shares, 17% of theoffering. The ex-credit union was chartered in 1939 to serveemployees of Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.