Activist investors have increased their holdings in Magyar Bancorp (MGYR) and IF Bancorp (IROQ) in the past two months.
PL Capital said in a regulatory filing Thursday that it has raised its stake in Magyar to 9.99% on Aug. 1, compared to a prior stake of 8.6%. The Naperville, Ill., investment firm said it has purchased 580,657 shares over time at a total cost of roughly $4.3 million.
Led by Richard Lashley and John Palmer, PL Capital disclosed in the filing that its representatives had met with executives of the New Brunswick, N.J., thrift in January. At that meeting, PL Capital's representatives expressed concerns that the thrift's management had "destroyed a significant amount of shareholder value," the filing said. Lashley and Palmer urged the $528 million-asset thrift to pursue a second-step conversion, or to ditch its mutual holding company structure and revert to a mutual savings bank without a holding company.
PL Capital has won seats on the boards of several community banks, including HF Financial (HFFC) in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Since July, funds controlled New York's Stilwell Group have increased their aggregate stake in IF Bancorp to 8.1%, compared to a previous stake of 7%. The funds now own 390,742 shares of the Watseka, Ill., company's stock, Stilwell disclosed in a regulatory filing Thursday. IF Bancorp is the $511 million-asset parent of Iroquois Federal Savings and Loan.
Stilwell said in a March 5 regulatory filing that he intended to assert shareholder rights at IF Bancorp, such as encouraging management to pay dividends and repurchase company stock. Stilwell remains locked in an unresolved legal battle with First Financial Northwest (FFNW) of Renton, Wash., over the results of a proxy vote from earlier this year.
