HomeTrust Bank of Asheville plans public offering – Asheville Citizen

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ASHEVILLE — One of the area’s largest banks said on Thursday it would go public to raise money for growth and expansion.

HomeTrust Bank will convert from a mutual to a stock bank.

It is the second Asheville bank to announce plans to go public this year. Asheville Savings Bank started selling stock Dec. 19.

Bank President Dana Stonestreet said Thursday that HomeTrust customers should not notice any changes.

He said the 100-year-old bank will continue to focus on its customers.

“It’s really a simple formula,” he said. “We focus on taking great care of our employees, our employees turn around and take great care of our customers and then we all care about our local community. It’s a formula that has been very successful and one we are going to stay with forever.”

Tony Plath, associate professor of finance at UNC Charlotte, who tracks the banking industry, said going public right now “is a scary thing in this market.”

Plath said many community banks have had to pull back on public offerings after finding little interest among potential stock buyers.

And, he said, expansion through buying other banks with capital raised from stocks has been tricky business for financial companies in the Southeast.

He said maintaining customer service doesn’t have to be an “either or dichotomy” when a bank goes public but the new owners often change the business model.

“Your attention is much more focused on making money,” he said.

HomeTrust more than doubled its business in Buncombe County from 2005 to 2010 as customers moved away from large national banks.

It had the third-largest share of bank deposits in the Asheville metropolitan area — Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson and Madison counties — as of June 30, with 8.7 percent of the total, according to the FDIC.

Ed Broadwell, HomeTrust chairman and CEO, said the conversion to stock would support growth through more lending and deposits.

He said the growth would be in WNC and the Piedmont area of North Carolina.

The company operates HomeTrust Bank, Tryon Federal Bank, Shelby Savings Bank, Home Savings Bank, Industrial Federal Bank, Cherryville Federal Bank and Rutherford County Bank. It has 300 employees.

Stock will be offered to the public but customers with deposits on Nov. 30, 2010, will have first priority, the bank said.

Stock will go for $10 a share, which is a common price when banks convert to stock, Stonestreet said.

The conversion is expected to be complete by the second quarter.