Middlefield in Ohio Buys Out Biggest Investor

Middlefield Banc Corp. in Middlefield, Ohio, has bought out its largest shareholder.

The $706 million-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing Wednesday that it paid Eric Hovde about $6.8 million to buy back the investor's 9.5% stake. Middlefield said the shares, acquired by a Hovde-affiliated fund in April 2012, had made him the company's biggest investor.

Middlefield said it paid for the stock using funds borrowed under existing lines of credit.

Hovde and Middlefield also agreed to terminate a stock purchase agreement and a rights and voting agreement associated with the 2012 investment.

Hovde has invested in a number of community banks, including Sunwest Bank in Irvine, Calif., and Carrollton Bancorp in Lutherville, Md.

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