Investor launches proxy challenge at Carver Bancorp in New York

Carver Bancorp in New York is facing a proxy challenge from a big investor.

Dream Chasers Capital Group, which owned about 9.7% of Carver’s outstanding stock, said in a press release that it had nominated two individuals to run for board seats at the company’s Dec. 12 annual meeting.

Jeff Anderson is a former chief financial officer of JPMorgan Chase’s northeast region retail banking organization, while Jeffrey Bailey, CEO of Dunham Metal Processing, is Carver’s biggest individual shareholder.

“Shareholders should elect [Anderson and Bailey] to the board to ensure Carver is focused on driving profitable growth and long-term shareholder value,” Dream Chasers said in an open letter to the company’s investors.

Dream Chasers, a New York-based minority-run investment fund, tried a year ago to buy a 35% stake in Carver, offering to pay $3.25 a share. The fund has said that it wants to bring in new management and “more smartly take advantage of the bank’s designation” as a minority depository institution (MDI).

Carver in January “definitively” rejected the offer, stating that its board determined that selling the stake could cause “unacceptable reputational risks” to the bank’s standing and mission credibility. The board also claimed that the proposal was “wholly deficient” in terms of its structural details, implied valuation, dilution, and the “basic disclosure of financial and managerial resources.”