Great Southern to acquire Guaranty Federal shares

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The Federal Reserve Board issued an order of approval Feb. 26 for Great Southern Bancorp Inc.'s acquisition of up to 20 percent of the voting shares of Guaranty Federal Bancshares Inc. Great Southern Bancorp Inc. is the holding company of Great Southern Bank, and Guaranty Federal Bancshares Inc. controls Guaranty Federal Savings Bank, a federal savings bank.|ret||ret||tab|

According to the Federal Reserve Board's order, Great Southern expects its percentage of ownership interest in Guaranty Federal Bancshares will increase, largely as the result of the repurchase by Guaranty of shares owned by other shareholders.|ret||ret||tab|

Great Southern has total consolidated assets of $1.1 billion and operates the 12th largest depository institution in Missouri. According to the order, Great Southern controls approximately $436.3 million in deposits. Guaranty Federal controls the 67th largest depository institution in the state, with deposits of $70.4 million.|ret||ret||tab|

The order stated that Great Southern has indicated it does not intend to exercise control over Guaranty Federal for purposes of the Bank Holding Company Act, and has agreed to abide by certain commitments that the board has relied on in other cases to determine that an investing bank holding company would not be able to exercise a controlling influence over a depository institution for purposes of the BHC Act. |ret||ret||tab|

For example, Great Southern has committed not to exercise a controlling influence over the management or policies of Guaranty or any of its subsidiaries, and employees or agents of Great Southern will not serve as officers, agents or employees of Guaranty Federal.|ret||ret||tab|

Guaranty Federal has objected to the increase in percentage ownership interest by Great Southern, the order stated, and has adopted anti-takeover provisions designed to discourage a takeover attempt not approved by Guaranty Federal's board of directors. According to a footnote in the order, Guaranty Federal stated that the current ownership interest by Great Southern violates Guaranty's articles of incorporation, which would prohibit any person from acquiring more than 20 percent of Guaranty's shares prior to December 2002.[[In-content Ad]]