Photo by James Sanna | Banker & Tradesman Staff

A day after Boston Private Financial Holding agreed to be acquired by the parent company of Silicon Valley Bank, one of its investors sent an open letter to the bank with concerns about “the integrity of the process undertaken by BPFH to maximize value for shareholders.”

New York-based HoldCo Asset Management LP said in a statement yesterday that it recently had several conversations with Boston Private’s senior management.

“HoldCo believes that Boston Private’s shares are significantly undervalued, which HoldCo attributes to negative perceptions regarding the Company’s board and management team and their publicly stated plan to pursue a standalone turnaround of the business,” the statement said.

The asset manager and its managed funds own about 4.9 percent of Boston Private’s shares, the statement said. Before the deal with Silicon Valley Financial Group was announced Monday, HoldCo had planned to send Boston Private’s management a copy of a presentation “outlining HoldCo’s numerous concerns and expressing its view that shareholder value would be maximized if Boston Private pursued a comprehensive sale process and sold itself to the highest bidder.”

“HoldCo is encouraged by the fact that the Company is pursuing a sale process instead of a standalone plan,” HoldCo said. “Nonetheless, based on the limited information that has been made publicly available to date, HoldCo is dissatisfied with SVB’s proposed purchase price and, more importantly, has substantial concerns regarding the integrity of the process undertaken by BPFH to maximize value for shareholders.”

In its letter, HoldCo asked Boston Private to “make available information necessary to assess the integrity of the process undertaken by BPFH in connection with the proposed acquisition.”

Later yesterday HoldCo issued a second open letter to Boston Private that included an email it had received from Scott Kavanaugh, CEO of California-based First Foundation Bank. Kavanaugh said he had called Boston Private’s CEO, Anthony DeChellis, about a merger but was told in November that the bank was not pursuing a sale.

“I had been persistently calling Mr. DeChellis to pursue a dialogue about a merger,” Kavanaugh said in his email. “His last conversation with me towards the end of November was that the board had instructed him to focus on getting the stock price higher and that they were not interested in pursuing a sale. We were never contacted from the company or it’s investment bankers at any time.”

HoldCo’s letter, signed by Vik Ghei and Michael Zaitzeff, asked Boston Private to hold a public conference call addressing the company’s concerns.