Who owns astoria federal

The combined company will operate under the Sterling Bancorp name and its principal banking subsidiaries will operate under the name of Sterling National Bank. Jack L. The combined company will be a Top 10 regional bank in the greater New York metropolitan area that is focused on delivering superior operating performance, providing distinctive service to our clients, creating an environment for our colleagues to be successful, and serving our communities. Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of March 6, , between Sterling and Astoria, each share of Astoria common stock has been converted into the right to receive 0.

Redman, Robert Giambrone and Patricia M. Nazemetz will join the Board of Directors of Sterling Bancorp. The Sterling and Astoria teams have come together to create a high performing regional bank. RBC Capital Markets and Citi served as lead financial advisors to Sterling and rendered fairness opinions to the Board of Directors of Sterling in connection with the transaction.

Sterling Bancorp, whose principal subsidiary is Sterling National Bank which specializes in the delivery of service and solutions to business owners, their families and consumers within the communities it serves through teams of dedicated and experienced relationship managers.

Federal legislation passed to bail out the industry, however, would have an adverse effect on Astoria Federal. Previously, larger thrifts were encouraged to acquire weaker ones by allowing them to count "supervisory goodwill" the difference between the purchase price and the actual value of assets as capital, and thus the amount the government would cushion against loan losses.

The matter would then be litigated and have a further impact on Astoria Federal later in the s. Astoria Federal then acquired Chenango Federal Savings in It converted to a federal charter in It also dated back to when it was chartered by the state. Oneonta converted to a federal charter in In Astoria Federal changed leadership, which would spearhead the conversion from mutual ownership to stock ownership.

Engelke, Jr. He joined Astoria Federal in to serve as vice-president and treasurer. He was promoted to executive vice-president in , was named to the bank's board of directors in , and was named chief operating officer in Changes in banking laws in the late s made it easier for depositor-owned federal thrifts to convert to shareholder-owned state-chartered savings banks.

For acquisition-minded thrifts like Astoria Federal the move was beneficial on two levels. Not only would the bank have stock to use in making purchases, an initial public offering would create a war chest for acquisitions. A mutual converts to stock ownership by creating a holding company, then making a subscription offering to allow depositors, employees, officers, and directors to buy shares in the new corporation at a set price.

Half the proceeds generally are used to acquire the bank, and the rest is available for use in growing the institution. Depositors of the mutual stand to gain because the stock of the new holding company is likely to rise substantially, generally spiking 15 percent to 20 percent on the first day of public trading.

Through the holding company the bank also can expand into complementary businesses such as insurance, real estate, and financial planning. Then, in November , the holding company sold Astoria was well positioned to take part in the consolidation of New York thrifts that was now heating up. It would have 38 offices in Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk counties, as well as five branches in upstate New York.

Although he was aggressive in growing Astoria Financial through acquisitions, Engelke remained cautious when it came to the bank's business, electing to concentrate on its traditional residential lending program.

In the U. Supreme Court ruled on the supervisory goodwill issue, deciding that the federal government had reneged on incentives to acquire ailing thrifts, setting the stage for Astoria Financial, as well as Dime Bancorp and Long Island Bancorp, to press the U.

Court of Federal Claims for millions of dollars. With this potential windfall in new capital, all three institutions appeared poised for even greater growth, but the best acquisition targets had been acquired and others appeared to be overvalued.

The situation in the New York metropolitan area was becoming increasingly unpredictable. Although Astoria was eager to buy other banks, it also was making itself an attractive candidate for acquisition. Engelke, named Astoria's chairman in , began looking to the Brooklyn market, which was similar to Queens and its base of working-class homeowners, especially in the growing immigrant communities.

Long Island Bancorp was the holding company for Long Island Savings Bank, which had been chartered originally in It became a prized catch in , due in some measure to the thrift's expected share of the federal supervisory goodwill settlement.

North Fork increased its stake in the holding company's stock from 4. Engelke sweetened his offer by agreeing to increase the number of Long Island directors on the combined board from four to five and keep on key executives. Although the Long Island Bancorp acquisition was regarded as a major coup for Engelke and Astoria Financial, the aftermath of the deal proved to be somewhat rocky.

Wall Street expressed concern that the bank had overpaid by bidding down Astoria's stock. Investors were especially dubious about Engelke's plan to make the deal work by cutting 50 percent of Long Island Bancorp's cost structure. He had been able to achieve considerable savings with previous acquisitions, but not to that level. A lower stock price, as a result, hampered Astoria Financial's ability to use its shares for further acquisitions.

Moreover, Engelke faced pressure from North Fork, which had positioned itself to become Astoria's largest institutional shareholder through the Long Island Bancorp stock it purchased during the acquisition fight. North Fork's chairman and chief executive, John Adam Kanas, issued a public letter in September, questioning Engelke's plan and threatening to call for a change in management if projected results were not realized.

Kanas the most disliked man in local banking, shaking up the otherwise friendly world of savings and loans in the Long Island-New York market. In the past, Mr. Kanas has sought win-win situations in which North Fork buys a stake in a thrift and then pressures it to sell: if the thrift is sold to a competitor, North Fork still collects a tidy profit on its investment.

Engelke simply wrote back to Kanas to express his confidence that Astoria Financial would indeed meet its projections. Nevertheless, Astoria Financial was forced to make some adjustments, especially as interest rates rose in It put further expansion plans on hold and made significant cutbacks on its mortgage-backed securities portfolio.

With freed-up capital, it then initiated a stock repurchase program to buy back some 10 percent of its shares.