Wings Financial Withdraws Hostile Takeover Offer

APPLE VALLEY, Minn. – Wings Financial FCU announced this afternoon it is withdrawing its controversial hostile takeover offer for Continental FCU because of NCUA ruling earlier this week nullifying the offer’s $200 payment for each of Continental’s members. “Once the payment’s gone it kind of makes it difficult to make the offer work,” John Wagner, a spokesman for the $1.6 billion credit union, told The Credit Union Journal today. Wings has been soliciting members of Continental FCU with offers of better service and expanded products, as well as $200 apiece, which would come from the Continental capital, if the merger were to go through. They had hoped to convince members to solicit Continental’s board–which had rejected four prior merger offers from Wings–to put the offer to a member vote. NCUA ruled earlier this week that the $200 payment was illegal because it violated provisions in the Federal CU Act prohibiting pre-merger dividends. The unprecedented hostile takeover offer had attracted the ire and consternation of credit union leaders who insist that all merger deal among credit unions and other cooperatives are friendly in nature.