Investor group increases unsolicited bit for Hawaii’s Territorial

An investor group has sweetened the pot in its effort to uproot Hope Bancorp’s purchase of Territorial Bancorp in Honolulu.

The group, which includes banking veteran Allan Landon and Blue Hill Advisors, said in a press release that it increased its cash offer for the $2.2 billion-asset Territorial by 4.2%, to $12.50 a share.

The investor group said its new offer represents a 27% premium to the initial offer from Los Angeles-based Hope.

“Shareholders recognize the superiority of our offer and want Territorial to engage with us,” Jason Blumberg, a Blue Hill managing member, said in a press release.

The Landon-Blue Hill group shared some new information about its group, though it still declined to identify the other investors. They said in a presentation that the investor group collectively has made more than 100 bank and thrift investment and holds about $3 billion in assets under management.

The group said it could complete its due diligence on an “accelerated timeline.” While the offer is based on shareholders tendering at least 70% of Territorial shares, the investors said they are “open to discussing the appropriate tender threshold.”

The $18.1 billion-asset Hope agreed in April to buy Territorial for $78.6 million in stock in a deal expected to close by the end of this year.

Territorial, which is barred from entertaining any other offer unless it is considered “superior” to the Hope deal, recently claimed that the Landon-Blue Hill offer doesn’t qualify due in part to its “conditions, execution risks and timing concerns.”