Seven years after it went public, United Tennessee Bankshares Inc. in Newport says it can no longer justify the expense and plans to go private.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the $117 million-asset company said Monday that it wants to deregister its thinly traded stock because of mounting regulatory costs brought on largely by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
A long line of small companies have said Sarbanes-Oxley demands persuaded them to go private.
Hundreds of companies, in-cluding dozens of community banks have delisted their stock since the landmark corporate accountability law was passed, in response to a wave of accounting scandals.
United, which owns Newport Federal Bank, said in SEC documents that it would go private by buying out shareholders with fewer than 2,500 shares, at $22 per share.
The transaction would reduce its shareholder total from 547 to 96, well below the 300-person threshold at which companies must file with the SEC. In late trading Tuesday, United's stock was up 2.35%, at $21.75.
