Needham Bank's Ashland branch in 2019. Courtesy photo/ File
Needham Bank has secured all required approvals for its conversion from a mutual bank to a stock bank. The bank’s common shares will start trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Dec. 28 under the symbol NBBK.
The $4.2 billion-asset bank first filed for its initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June. For the IPO, Needham Bank’s original mutual holding company, NB Financial MHC, is being converted to a stock holding company called NB Bancorp Inc.
“The closing of the conversion and the company’s [NB Bancorp] related stock offering are expected to occur on December 27, subject to customary closing conditions, at which time the company will become the bank’s holding company,” the bank said in a statement.
After the subscription offering that ended on Nov. 14, Needham’s statement said the IPO was oversubscribed by its account-holders, who had priority access to the offering if they held qualifying deposits at the bank as of March 2022.
Needham Bank is the only local bank that braved an IPO attempt in 2023 – a year seen as challenging by banks due to high-interest rates and an uncertain economic landscape. Everett Bank held its own IPO in 2022, but had to extend its subscription offering after preliminary results showed that the bank had not sold enough shares to complete the IPO.
Earlier statements from the bank said the expected IPO proceeds are aimed at supporting its future lending activities, with a focus on construction and real estate development lending, small business lending, middle-market commercial lending and structured financing. Other major drivers listed in Needham Bank’s IPO filing include competing for larger loans to retain clients and investing in unspecified new technologies that could unlock products.
The bank also plans an employee stock ownership program will buy up to 8 percent of its outstanding shares on the public market, and plans to donate 1.7 million shares and $2 million in cash to its foundation as part of the IPO process.
Needham Bank is a prominent part of Boston’s commercial real estate lending sector and acquired a significant cannabis banking and lending business from Eastern Bank in early 2022.
