Sec. 18. (a) At the time of the filing of an application with the department, the applicant may submit a written request asking the department to hold a hearing upon the fairness of the terms, conditions, and provisions of the proposed issuance and exchange of stock of the applicant for the stock of the Indiana bank or Indiana bank holding company. If a request is submitted under this subsection, the department may hold a public hearing upon the fairness of the exchange or upon any other matter with respect to the proposed acquisition. The shareholders of a bank or bank holding company proposed to be acquired and the shareholders of the applicant may appear and offer evidence at any public hearing at which the fairness of the exchange is to be determined. At least ten (10) days before the hearing, a person desiring to appear and offer testimony must give the department written notice of the person's intent to testify. The department may require the applicant to produce such evidence as the department considers necessary to the hearing.
(b) Any public hearing held under this section must commence not less than thirty (30) days and not more than sixty (60) days after the date on which the department accepts the application for processing under section 17 of this chapter. If the department decides to hold a public hearing under this section, it shall notify the applicant no later than thirty (30) days after the department's acceptance of an application for processing and at least twenty (20) days before the hearing. The public hearing shall be held at a place, date, and time specified by the department. The department may combine any hearing held under this section with a hearing held under section 17 of this chapter. The department may assign the task of conducting the hearing to a member or employee of the department. If the department decides to hold a public hearing under this section, the applicant shall provide written notice of the date, time, place, and purpose of the hearing to each Indiana bank and each Indiana subsidiary of a bank holding company that has an office in a county in which the Indiana bank proposed to be acquired or an Indiana bank subsidiary of the Indiana bank holding company proposed to be acquired has a principal office or branch. The Indiana bank or Indiana bank holding company proposed to be acquired shall transmit the written notice to its shareholders. The notice must also be published at least twenty (20) days before the date of the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in each county in which is located the principal office or a branch of the bank proposed to be acquired or the principal office or a branch of a bank subsidiary of the bank holding company proposed to be acquired. The notice must contain any other provision as the department may require. The applicant shall pay all expenses of providing the notice, publication, court reporter fees, department expenses, appropriate department per diem expenses, and hearing room fees, as determined by the department.
(c) The issuance of securities described in subsection (d) is a transaction exempted from the registration requirements of IC 23-19-3-1 if, at the time the applicant submits a written request to the department under subsection (a), the applicant also submits to the securities commissioner appointed under IC 23-19-6-1(a) a notice in writing of all terms of the transaction and if the securities commissioner does not disallow the exemption within the next five (5) full business days.
(d) Subsection (c) applies to any security issued in exchange for one (1) or more bona fide outstanding securities, claims, or property interests, or partly in that exchange and partly for cash, under terms and conditions approved by the department after a hearing held under this section.
As added by P.L.279-1987, SEC.9. Amended by P.L.262-1995, SEC.60; P.L.27-2007, SEC.30.