Treaty Oak Bancorp Inc. in Austin expects to save about $400,000 a year before taxes on regulatory filings as a result of its recent move to delist from the over-the-counter market, according to Jeff Nash, its president and chief executive officer.
Last week shareholders of the $120 million-asset parent of Treaty Oak Bank approved a measure for investors with fewer than 2,500 shares of its common stock to have each share reclassified as preferred stock as of Feb. 26.
The move reduced the number of common shareholders to 247 — below the 300 threshold that allows delisting.
The 346 preferred stock holders will not have the vote at annual meetings but will receive the same dividends and still be allowed to vote on any offer to buy Treaty Oak.
The company chose the preferred stock route instead of a reverse stock split, which typically forces small investors out, because shareholders have been a major marketing force for the bank, Mr. Nash said in an interview Friday.
"My opening plea was, ‘we don’t want anybody to leave the ownership of Treaty Oak,’ " he said.
In 2004 a group of investors bought the former Texline State Bank, moved it to Austin, renamed it, and raised $13.2 million of capital in an initial public offering.
