Despite repeated rejections, TrustCo Bank Corp NY of Glenville is not giving up on its bid to buy Ballston Spa Bancorp.
In a Dec. 14 letter to the target's shareholders, TrustCo president and chief executive Robert J. McCormick said his company's $34 million offer for Ballston Spa is "an excellent offer by any measure" and urged them to accept it.
"Do not let the personal agenda of a few individuals cause you to miss out on this great opportunity!" Mr. McCormick said in the letter, which was also filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The $2.8 billion-asset TrustCo made an unsolicited offer on Dec. 5 to buy Ballston Spa, named for its upstate New York hometown, for $45.50 a share. It made the offer after Ballston Spa's board of director's had rejected an earlier offer of $32 a share.
Two days later, Ballston Spa, which has assets of $310 million, said in a letter to shareholders that TrustCo's offer was "financially inadequate" and advised investors not to sell their shares.
Mr. McCormick's letter said that Ballston Spa's management and board have "issued self-serving advice intended to further entrench themselves."
He also pointed out that TrustCo is one of the top-performing banks in the country; Ballston Spa's operating results, he wrote, "remain anemic and well below industry averages." "Consolidation of weakly performing banks is inevitable," he wrote, "and nothing in Ballston Spa's performance history suggests an ability to remain independent over the long term."
