Astoria Financial, Atlantic Coast Latest Merger Targets for Pushy Activists

NEW YORK (The Deal) -- Fresh off their apparent success in pressing Harrisburg, Pa.-based Metro Bancorp Inc. to be acquired by Pittsburgh, Pa.-based FNB Corp. for $474 million, the target's activist investors, PL Capital LLC and Basswood Capital Management LLC, are taking aim at two more banks. Astoria Financial Corp. and Atlantic Coast Financial Corp. are the latest objects of the insurgents' attention. Naperville, Ill.-based PL Capital, with an 8.8% stake in Metro, was awarded a board seat...