Codorus Valley Bancorp in York, Pa., is facing calls from an activist investor to find a buyer.
Driver Management in New York said in a Tuesday regulatory filing that it wants the board of the $2.3 billion-asset Codorus Valley to “immediately hire a financial advisor and conduct a comprehensive review of all available options for increasing shareholder value, including a sale.”
Driver, which has a roughly 6.3% stake in Codorus Valley, said it wants to have a “full and frank discussion of the options available to the board and the [company] to increase shareholder value.”
The investor said it offered on June 29 to enter into a confidentiality and standstill agreement, as long as it was allowed to nominate candidates to run as directors during the company’s 2022 annual meeting.
Driver recently resolved a longstanding dispute with First United in Oakland, Md.
The $1.7 billion-asset First United disclosed in April that it would buy about 361,000 shares of its stock from Driver for $6.5 million. First United and Driver also agreed to a cooperative agreement, with the banking company paying the investor $3.3 million to settle outstanding litigation.
Driver agreed to back off a plan to nominate Abbott Cooper, a managing member, to stand for election to First United’s board at the company’s next annual meeting. The investor also agreed to withdraw any other shareholder proposals, stop soliciting proxies and refrain from buying First United stock.