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Non-Tech : Independence Savings Bank (ICBC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockboy who wrote (145)	3/21/1998 9:11:00 PM
From: robert emann	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 246

No tier 2 depositors got any shares. I was one of them. Thanks to KYA27 for a list of some other potential conversions. I am also looking into Flatbush Federal.

To: stockboy who wrote (145)	3/22/1998 8:58:00 AM
From: Steve Bogart	Respond to of 246

I didnt think it was negative...just sounded like someone who missed out on IPO. Here's the article from Barron's: Hot initial public offerings from technology companies often generate attention. But some of the hottest deals lately have come from thrift institutions that converted from mutual status to public ownership. Just last week, Independence Community Bank, a Brooklyn savings institution, sold 70.4 million shares in the second largest thrift conversion ever. The stock was priced at$10, started trading Tuesday at 17 and finished the week at 17 7/8. Even stronger was Cavalry Bancorp, a Tennessee thrift, which offered 7.5 million shares at 10. Cavalry doubled on its first day of trading Tuesday, marking the largest percentage gain for any IPO this year. The shares of the newly converted thrifts rise so rapidly because prices are set at below-market levels. Current deals are getting done at around 80% of book value - less than half the price/book ratio of the average thrift. This discount, plus a history of takeovers involving many converted thrifts, spurs an institutional frenzy once the thrift shares begin to trade. The big winners in these conversions are depositors and thrift managers, who get first crack at purchasing stock. In virtually all the thrift conversions in recent years, demand from depositors has been so strong that no other potential investors were allocated any stock. The conversions also are lucrative for thrift managers, who award themselves as much stock as possible. At current levels, one institutional investor is steering clear of the converted thrifts. "It's difficult for us to get interested at these prices,: says James McKelvey, an assistant portfolio manager at the John Hancock Regional Bank fund. Independence now trades at almost 1.5 times book value, a fairly lofty ratio, given that it is massively overcapitalized with an equity to assets ratio of over 20%. Independence changes hands at a lofty 22 times projected 1998 profits. The strong performance of the newly converted thrifts shows the benefits of establishing accounts at local thrifts with mutual structures.