BILLINGS: HoldCo Asset Management LP has built up a sizeable stake in regional lender First Interstate BancSystem Inc (FIBK) and told management to swear off acquisitions and buy back even more shares than the lender’s already planning, or the activist investor will push for a sale.
HoldCo has purchased US$129mil of FIBK’s common stock since March, totalling about 3.8% of the outstanding voting shares in the Billings, Montana-based regional bank, according to a presentation seen by Bloomberg News.
FIBK’s shares are the second-worst-performing stock in the KBW Regional Banking Index over the past five years, sliding 15% as the broader gauge climbed 61%.
Unlike HoldCo’s recent push for another target, Comerica Inc, to sell itself – an effort that ended with a US$10.9bil deal to be taken over by Fifth Third Bancorp – HoldCo has a different turnaround plan for FIBK: do nothing.
Furthermore, the regional bank has been building up capital, and the question now is how it will use the money. — Bloomberg
