Summerland Credit Union, from Lismore, NSW, is setting out to thwart overtures to acquire the ADI and demutualise the credit union.
“The Summerland Board wants to protect the credit union from a hostile takeover,” the board of the mutual ADI informed members in papers for a Special General Meeting to be held on Wednesday, 23 June 2021.
The Summerland board proposes:
• to vote on a demutualisation a customer would need to have an account with Summerland for a period of 12 months prior to the vote being held; and
• a successful vote would need 15 per cent of members to vote, with 75 per cent of voting members agreeing with the offer from the non-mutual financial institution.
“In recent years there have been moves by non-mutual financial institutions to takeover organisations like ours,” the board said – not naming names.
Those with form include ASX-listed Auswide Bank, Firstmac and Lakeba Group, and of these three it’s likely it will be Auswide that’s recently been seducing the credit union’s board.
“Sometimes these offers are potentially beneficial to the members, and sometimes they are not,” the board said.
“If this type of offer arose and was believed to be in your best interests, the Board would carefully consider the benefits to members and the long-term sustainability of the credit union.
“However, some of these takeover proposals are hostile and not necessarily in the best interest of the members or the credit union. Therefore, the Board is recommending changes to the Constitution that would ensure that customers are fully informed of any takeover offer and have an opportunity to be involved in any decision that impacts the future of the credit union.
“Currently, Summerland prefers to remain as a ‘mutual’.”