PHILADELPHIA, March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sovereign Bancorp, Inc.
(NYSE: SOV) issued the following statement in response to today's decision in
the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York:
"Sovereign has reviewed Judge Hellerstein's opinion, which concluded that
Sovereign's directors may be removed without cause, and respectfully
disagrees. Sovereign continues to strongly believe that under Pennsylvania
law and Sovereign's Articles of Incorporation, its directors may be removed
only with cause. Sovereign will seek the swiftest possible review by the
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit."
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., ("Sovereign") (NYSE: SOV), is the parent company
of Sovereign Bank, a $64 billion financial institution with more than
650 community banking offices, over 1,000 ATMs and approximately 10,000 team
members with principal markets in the Northeast United States. Sovereign
offers a broad array of financial services and products including retail
banking, business and corporate banking, cash management, capital markets,
wealth management and insurance. Sovereign is the 18th largest banking
institution in the United States. For more information on Sovereign Bank,
visit http://www.sovereignbank.com or call 1-877-SOV-BANK.
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. and its directors and officers may be deemed to be
participants in the solicitation of proxies from shareholders of Sovereign in
connection with the election of directors at the 2006 annual meeting of
shareholders. Information regarding the names of Sovereign's directors and
executive officers and their respective interests in Sovereign by security
holdings or otherwise is set forth in Sovereign's proxy statement relating to
the 2005 annual meeting of shareholders, which may be obtained free of charge
at the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov and Sovereign's website at
http://www.sovereignbank.com. Additional information regarding the interests
of such potential participants will be included in the Proxy Statement and
other relevant documents to be filed with the SEC in connection with
Sovereign's 2006 annual meeting of shareholders.
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. will file a Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A with
the SEC in connection with its 2006 annual meeting of shareholders, which,
when filed, will be available free of charge at the SEC's website at
http://www.sec.gov. Investors and security holders are advised to read
Sovereign's Proxy Statement, when available, and the other materials to be
filed by Sovereign related to the proxy solicitation, when available, because
they will contain important information. Investors and security holders may
obtain a free copy of the Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A and all other
related material to be filed by Sovereign with the SEC (when they are filed
and become available) free of charge at the SEC's website at
http://www.sec.gov or by contacting Sovereign's proxy solicitors, Innisfree
M&A Incorporated at 1-888-750-5834 or Mackenzie Partners, Inc. at
1-800-322-2885. Sovereign also will provide a copy of these materials without
charge at the Investor Relations section of its website at
http://www.sovereignbank.com.
SOURCE Sovereign Bancorp, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.sovereignbank.com
CONTACT:
FINANCIAL CONTACTS: Mark McCollom,
+1-610-208-6426 or mmccollo@sovereignbank.com, or Stacey Weikel,
+1-610-208-6112 or sweikel@sovereignbank.com; or MEDIA CONTACTS:
Ed Shultz, +1-610-207-8753 or eshultz1@sovereignbank.com; or The
Abernathy MacGregor Group: Mike Pascale or Tom Johnson,
+1-212-371-5999
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