Ex-North Fork Bancorp exec back to NY
John Kanas, former chief executive of North Fork Bancorp, expects to expand presence of Herald National Bank in Manhattan at first. “We’re going to take it one step at a time,” he said recently. Credit: David Pokress, 2009
Former North Fork Bancorp chief John Kanas, once a well-known figure on the Long Island business scene, has gotten a crucial go-ahead in his bid to regain a banking foothold in New York, via his planned $71.4 million purchase of Herald National Bank early next year.
Kanas now is chief executive and co-owner of BankUnited Inc., based in Miami Lakes, Fla. Kanas and several other high-profile investors bought BankUnited from federal regulators in 2009 after it fell on financial hard times.
Herald National has offices in Melville, Manhattan and Brooklyn and specializes in serving small- to medium-sized businesses and their executives, as well as private high-net-worth individuals.
Kanas, who was with North Fork for almost 30 years, starting as a branch manager and growing it westward from Mattituck into the 350-branch giant of local banks, said in a brief interview Tuesday that his plans for Herald, beginning late next year, include expansion in Manhattan, not Long Island. "We expect to open a couple of branches in Manhattan," he said. "We're going to take it one step at a time."
At least one entity thinks he's already taken it too far. When Kanas sold North Fork in 2006 to Capital One of McLean, Va., he agreed not to compete with Capital One in the New York area until August of next year. Capital One considers the planned purchase of Herald National a violation of that agreement and is suing Kanas to halt the process.
Kanas responded in court papers that he has "done nothing more than prepare to compete" when the agreement expires. The suit is pending.
The crucial step forward came Thursday, when 83 percent of Herald National's stockholders voted to approve the merger with BankUnited. The banks expect the deal to close during the first quarter of next year.
BankUnited says it has more than 90 branches in Florida. Its shares closed Tuesday at $23.38, up 14 cents. Herald National shares closed at $3.64, down 5 cents. The value of each share of Herald National was set at $4.13 for the merger. Herald National shareholders will receive $22.9 million in cash and the remainder in the form of 1.7 million shares of BankUnited stock.
Announcing the merger in June, BankUnited said Randy Nielsen, the chairman and chief executive of Herald National, will remain in his job after the transaction closes.
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