PORT ANGELES — First Federal officials will make no comment until next week about the results of a first-time stock offering and vote on a proposed conversion from a mutual to stock form of organization.
The Port Angeles-based institution offered more than 10.5 million shares of First Federal stock last month.
Although the initial offering closed Dec. 16, depositors and certain borrowers are still voting on the conversion of 91-year-old First Federal from a mutual form of organization, or depositor-owned, savings and loan to a bank owned by stockholders.
Before any of the purchased stock can be delivered, a majority vote of depositors and borrowers must approve the conversion.
The results of the stock sale and vote will be announced in a special meeting of members — those who bank with First Federal — at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Port Angeles Red Lion Hotel.
It is not a public meeting, said First Federal President and CEO Larry Hueth. It is open to all members.
The minimum amount of stock that First Federal had to sell by Dec. 16 was 7,820,000 shares at $10 per share.
If the stock was popular, the number could have increased from 10,580,000 to 12,167,000, the maximum the bank could offer, according to state and federal regulations.
To keep from influencing sales, bank officials have said they are prohibited from making any comment about how the stock was selling.
Hueth declined to comment Monday.
Nearly 25,000 voting member proxy cards, which represent about 42,000 First Federal accounts, were mailed by First Northwest Bancorp, the holding company for First Federal, in late November along with order forms and a prospectus on the stock.
If the conversion is approved, stock would go to purchasers shortly after Jan. 6, with depositors of First Federal who have had qualifying accounts since March 2011 first in line.
Second would be First Fed’s employee stock ownership plan.
Third in priority would be First Fed depositors with accounts opened between April 1, 2011, and Sept. 30, 2014.
Fourth in line would be other depositors and borrowers of First Fed as of Nov. 10, 2014.
Any stock left would be sold to others in a community offering.
The stock would then be publicly traded on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “FNBC.”
Money paid for stock would be refunded if the conversion is not approved.
In addition to the conversion, voters are also being asked to approve the funding of a new First Federal community foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit which would give money to charities and other local community groups.
Votes will be taken up to the beginning of the Tuesday meeting or, if voting online, until 2 p.m. Monday.
First Federal, which had assets of more than $795 million as of June 30, stands to gain $78 million to more than $100 million from its stock offering.
“The capital that will be raised will benefit the local economy, the bank and the community in total” by allowing the bank to expand its deposit and lending efforts, Hueth has said.
First Federal, which began in 1923, has branches in Port Angeles, Sequim, Port Townsend, Forks and Silverdale, plus a lending center in Bellingham.
It has almost 180 employees.
