Dissidents Get Key Backing In Proxy FightAt Ex-CU

CRANFORD, N.J. - (03/22/06 -- A Wall Street investment groupseeking to replace two directors at Synergy Financial got importantsupport in their proxy battle with the converted credit union.Institutional Shareholders Services, an independent research firmwhich supports stockholders, said it supports PL Capital Group inits efforts to win two of the three board seats being contested innext month's elections. In announcing its support for the dissidentshareholders, ISS said it believes the PL Capital nominees "offermore to the board in terms of industry experience and knowledge tomeet Synergy's needs going forward than management's independentdirector nominees." ISS also criticized the ex-credit union'scorporate governance rules which requires that Synergy directorsreside in one of the four counties surrounding the bank. "Four ofthe company's current directors do not meet this requirementdemonstrating that the provision has outlived its usefulness, andthat the board exempted itself from this provision is evidence thatthis provision does not benefit shareholders," ISS said. PLCapital, the largest Synergy shareholder with a 9.8% stake, isvying for seats being contested by long-time incumbents, JohnFiore, Nancy Davis and Phil Scott, all of whom helped engineer theconversion from credit union.