Amalgamated in New York to form holding company

Amalgamated Bank in New York is looking to form a holding company.

The $6.5 billion-asset bank said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that it plans to reorganize as a subsidiary of Amalgamated Financial.

Amalgamated said in the filing that the move would allow it to more efficiently raise and deploy capital. The holding company would also have more latitude to repurchase shares and increased flexibility to pursue bank acquisitions.

“After the reorganization, the holding company will be able to, and may, subject to regulatory approval, create new banks or acquire existing banks and operate them under” separate charters, the filing said.

Amalgamated, which bought New Resource Bank in San Francisco in 2018, said it has no acquisitions lined up for now.

Plans to form a holding company come two years after the once-union-owned Amalgamated held an initial public offering that was designed in part to give the bank a more liquid stock to pursue acquisitions.

As part of the IPO, held late in 2018, Workers United and affiliates lowered their stakes in the bank from 55.2% to 41%. Funds tied to W.L. Ross & Co. cut their holdings from 16.5% to 12.6%, while funds associated with Yucaipa Cos. had their stakes reduced from from 16.5% to 13.5%.