As the proxy battle heats up for control of Republic First Bank, the Norcross-Braca group announced May 3 it voted proxies for the slate of board members proposed by Driver Management Group.
George Norcross – AARON HOUSTON
Also known as the Driver slate, the three members are Peter Bartholow, Pamela Bundy and Richard Sinkfield III. The Norcross-Braca group, headed by George Norcross, Gregory Braca and Philip Norcross, had previously signaled its support of the trio. Following a review of the information in Driver’s proxy statement, the group moved to vote FOR the nominees and filed a preliminary proxy with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The move is the latest in a fierce proxy battle that pits Norcross against Vernon Hill, Republic First Bank’s current CEO. NJBIZ recently detailed the fight for control of the bank between the two South Jersey business titans.
The dispute, combined with an ongoing independent audit, have ground things a halt. The audit has led to a delay of the company’s annual meeting, which has put off the formal proxy vote – for now. Because that also delayed the company’s filing of its Form 10-K letter, NASDAQ sent a Notice of Filing Delinquency. A wild few months of legal actions and filed motions had also led to a 4-4 board stalemate.
The Norcross-Braca group currently owns 5.9 million shares of the company’s stock, equal to approximately 9.3%.
Republic First Bank has not yet called or scheduled its annual meeting.
