Team Financial, Inc. Appoints New Director; Vows to Defeat Dissident Shareholder's Sour Grapes Proxy Solicitation for Board Seat
May 28 2008 - 4:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
PAOLA, Kan., May 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Team Financial, Inc.
(the "Company",) (NASDAQ:TFIN) today announced the Board of
Directors' unanimous appointment of Robert M. Blachly to fill a
vacant Board of Directors seat, and that, as set forth in the
Company's recent definitive proxy material, Mr. Blachly will serve
as a nominee to the Board at the annual meeting of shareholders to
be held on Tuesday, June 17th. Mr. Blachly, age 58, has served as a
director of our primary bank subsidiary, TeamBank, N.A. since
August 2006, and continues to serve in that capacity, having
recently been appointed to a special committee to oversee loan
administration and credit risk. He has also served as a member of
the board loan committee. He is Executive Vice President of The
Industrial Fumigant Company, Olathe, Kansas, a multimillion dollar
international supplier of food plant sanitization and consulting
services, where he has served in various progressive capacities
since 1976. He chaired its ESOP Committee from 1991 to 2005. Mr.
Blachly is a graduate of the University of Kansas, B.S., Business
Administration. His expertise in a growing and profitable company
and his experience with an employee ownership plan will add to the
strength and depth of our Board. Mr. Blachly fills the seat of
dissident shareholder, Keith B. Edquist, who resigned from the
Board on May 20th in order to solicit proxies to seat his own slate
of three Board members at the Company's upcoming annual meeting. We
believe Mr. Edquist's solicitation is a "sour grapes" attempt to
obtain Board seats, as our Nominating Committee, consisting
entirely of independent members, determined earlier this year that
a highly qualified Board candidate, Mr. Blachly, should be
nominated to serve instead of any other candidate. The Company
believes Mr. Edquist and his hand-picked slate of two other
nominees would not result in an increase in shareholder value and
their presence on the Board would not be in the best interests of
shareholders. Among other things, during the time Mr. Edquist
served on the Board, he was generally uncooperative and
antagonistic with the other Board members and our employees. The
Company recently rejected an offer by Mr. Edquist to purchase one
of our Nebraska bank branches because of the negative impact to the
Company's shareholders. Mr. Edquist's proxy soliciation expresses
concern about the Company's executive pay practices. He has not
disclosed that while on our Compensation Committee he was integral
to reviewing our executives' compensation and in late 2005 led the
approval of an executive employment and salary package for the then
chief financial officer which was identical in material form to the
compensation package offered to the CEO. The Company, its Board,
and the various committees of the Board adhere to the corporate
governance practices in compliance with applicable law, under the
guiding principle that all actions taken by them will be in the
best long-term interests of shareholders. The Compensation
Committee, which is comprised solely of independent directors,
diligently examines appropriate compensation levels for the
Company's named executive officers. Compensation is reviewed
annually and is tied to Company performance through numerous
factors including asset growth, return on average equity, earnings
growth compared to the prior year's performance, and strategic
positioning of the Company for the future. The Company disagrees
with Mr. Edquist's conclusion that he was relieved of his Board
committee responsibilites "...when I objected to the Chairman of
the Compensation Committee's procedures." Nominations to our Board
are thoroughly discussed and analyzed by our Nominating Committee,
all of whom are independent directors, using well thought out,
established practices. We strongly urge our shareholders to vote
for the Company's nominees to the Board, all of whom are highly
qualified and committed to our mission of full service community
banking through our dedicated and hard working employees. Between
now and the annual meeting on June 17th we will be providing our
shareholders with additional soliciting material demonstrating, we
believe, the superiority of our highly qualified nominees compared
to Mr. Edquist and his nominees. IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND WHERE TO
FIND IT In connection with its 2008 Annual Meeting, Team Financial,
Inc. has filed a definitive proxy statement, WHITE proxy card and
other materials with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
("SEC"). WE URGE INVESTORS TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND THESE
OTHER MATERIALS CAREFULLY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE, BECAUSE THEY
CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT TEAM FINANCIAL, INC. AND THE
MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED AT ITS ANNUAL MEETING. Investors may
contact Robert J. Weatherbie at (913) 294-9667 or by email at .
Investors may also obtain a free copy of the proxy statement and
other relevant documents as well as other materials filed with the
SEC concerning Team Financial, Inc. at the SEC's website at
http://www.sec.gov/. These materials and other documents may also
be obtained for free from: Secretary, Team Financial, Inc., 8 West
Peoria, Suite 200, Paola, Kansas 66071 (913) 294-9667. CERTAIN
INFORMATION REGARDING PARTICIPANTS IN THE SOLICITATION Team
Financial, Inc. and its directors are, and certain of its officers
and employees may be deemed to be, participants in the solicitation
of proxies from Team Financial's stockholders with respect to the
matters considered at the Team Financial, Inc. 2008 Annual Meeting.
Information regarding these directors, and these certain officers
and employees, is included in the definitive proxy statement on
Schedule 14A filed with the SEC on April 28, 2008. Security holders
can also obtain information with respect to the identity of the
participants and potential participants in the solicitation and a
description of their direct or indirect interests, by security
holdings or otherwise, for free, by contacting: Secretary, Team
Financial, Inc., 8 West Peoria, Suite 200, Paola, Kansas 66071
(913) 294-9667. More detailed information with respect to the
identity of the participants, and their direct or indirect
interests, by security holdings or otherwise, has been and will be
set forth in our definitive proxy statement and other proxy related
materials to be filed with the SEC in connection with the Team
Financial, Inc. 2008 Annual Meeting. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements under the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are subject
to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results
to differ materially from historical income and those presently
anticipated or projected. The Company cautions readers not to place
undue reliance on any such forward looking statements, which speak
only as of the date of this release. Such risks and uncertainties
include those detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, risks of adverse changes in results of
operations, risks related to the Company's expansion strategies,
risks relating to loans and investments, including the effect of
the change of the economic conditions in areas the Company's
borrowers are located, risks associated with the adverse effects of
governmental regulation, changes in regulatory oversight, interest
rates, and competition for the Company's customers by other
providers of financial services, all of which are difficult to
predict and many of which are beyond the control of the Company.
DATASOURCE: Team Financial, Inc. CONTACT: Robert J. Weatherbie,
Chief Executive Officer of Team Financial, Inc., +1-913-294-9667,
Web site: http://www.teamfinancialinc.com/
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