Two investors who only recently acquired a stake in RidgeStone Financial Services Inc. have made an unsolicited offer to buy the Brookfield, Wis., company for $17.1 million in cash.
Douglas M. Kratz and Perry Hansen acquired a 9.9% stake in the $111 million-asset company in January and are now RidgeStone’s largest shareholders. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday, Mr. Kratz said that they have offered to buy the remaining shares at $14 each but have not received a response from RidgeStone’s board.
The 9-year-old RidgeStone announced March 4 that it expected to delist its stock and go private by June 6. (The thinly traded stock closed at $13.50 a share Wednesday.)
Mr. Kratz said in the filing that he and Mr. Hansen have already received approval from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to acquire a majority stake in RidgeStone. He argued that RidgeStone should sell because, under its current management, it has not rewarded shareholders.
RidgeStone’s net income last year fell 39% from 2003, to $455,000, and its net interest margin fell 62 basis points, to 3.83%.
Last month RidgeStone adopted a shareholder rights plan that prevent anyone from buying a large enough stake to put it up for sale without the board’s approval.
