People's United Financial Inc.'s acquisition of Smithtown Bancorp Inc. in Hauppauge, N.Y., is set to close Nov. 30.
Despite a significantly discounted price, nearly 40% of Smithtown's shareholders want cash. On Monday, the $22 billion-asset People's United disclosed the results of elections made by Smithtown's 14.9 million common shareholders.
At Nov. 19, 39.1% elected for cash, 31.3% wanted to receive People's United stock and the rest expressed no opinion or have not submitted their elections. Shareholders of the $2.43 billion-asset Smithtown have until Nov. 24 to submit their elections.
People's United of Bridgeport, Conn., announced plans in July to buy the struggling Smithtown for $60 million, or about 70% of the New York company's tangible book value.
