LCNB Corp. has hired an investment bank to “begin evaluation” of the Lebanon, Ohio, company’s potential sale.
The $2.3 billion-asset company, which is in the process of buying another bank, disclosed in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it hired Hovde Group in December to help it weigh its options.
The disclosure was in response to a shareholder proposal by Philip Timyan that LCNB’s board hire an investment bank and pursue a sale.
LCNB argued in its letter to the SEC that it has the legal right to exclude Timyan’s proposal because it has already been “substantially implemented.”
LCNB, meanwhile, agreed in late November to buy Eagle Financial Bancorp. The company said in its SEC letter that the acquisition will “further strengthen [its] position in the greater-Cincinnati area.”