Alliance Bancorp shareholder says company refused to meet, calls refusal 'inappropriate'

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., April 30 - Alliance Bancorp, Inc. of Pennsylvania investor Richard Lashley, principal of PL Capital LLC, said he was disappointed that the company's board of directors refused to meet with him following the company's annual meeting on April 23.

In an April 25 letter to Alliance Bancorp chairman William Hecht, Lashley noted he deferred several of PL Capital's comments and questions until after the annual meeting, with the understanding that PL Capital would be heard at a full meeting with the board.

"Given Alliance's track record, one would think that the board would want to meet with its largest shareholder to better understand our concerns and have a chance to address them," the letter stated.

"To refuse to meet for an hour or two with Alliance's largest shareholder, to discuss matters of critical importance to Alliance and its shareholders, is inappropriate," Lashley added.

The letter was included in a schedule 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Lashley, with a 9.1% stake in the company, reiterated observations made by PL Capital in an October presentation to Alliance Bancorp.

The observations included a decline in the company's stock for the past one, three, five and 10 years as well as a decision by the board to sell stock, which destroyed a "significant amount" of shareholder value.

According to Lashley, "To simply ignore the reality of how poorly Alliance has performed year after year is a failure of corporate governance on the part of the board."

Lashley reminded Alliance Bancorp that PL Capital was prepared to run a proxy contest to defeat Alliance Bancorp's stock benefit plans, However, the company did not put the stock benefit plans up for a shareholder vote.

Alliance Bancorp is a Broomall, Pa., community bank.

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