PSB Bancorp Inc.'s stock price soared 11% on Friday on news that the Philadelphia company had hired an investment banker to explore its possible sale.
The stock closed at $15. The $530 million-asset company had announced Thursday, that it had engaged Griffin Financial Group LLC in Lancaster, Pa., to assist it in "evaluating its strategic alternatives," including a sale.
In a news release Thursday, chief executive officer Anthony DiSandro said that the announcement was not meant to imply that a sale is imminent. PSB is the parent of First Penn Bank, which has 12 branches in Philadelphia and its suburbs.
The board's decision to consider a sale is likely connected to an appeals court's ruling last month that said that the company was wrong to void the stock options of one with which it merged in 1999. That ruling essentially gave two dissident shareholders a roughly 16% stake in the company; other dissidents control many shares.
