In a move shaking the mid-tier banking sector, PL Capital Advisors, LLC has made public a pointed directive to Horizon Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: HBNC), urging the bank to abandon its acquisition-driven strategy in favor of proactive strategic action aimed at maximizing shareholder value. The presentation entitled “Stop Making Acquisitions and Take Proactive Strategic Actions to Maximize Shareholder Value” was delivered to Horizon’s Board of Directors and management team on October 27, 2025.
Horizon, a $6.7 billion-asset commercial bank holding company serving Midwestern markets, has underperformed its peers, with its stock price and tangible book value (TBV) per share both declining since 2018. PL Capital, one of Horizon’s largest shareholders (holding around 3 %), said it had lost confidence in Horizon’s leadership and went public with its concerns after years of quiet engagement.
Activist Push and Strategic Recommendation
In the document, PL Capital’s key criticisms center on two major missteps by Horizon: the 2021 Michigan deposit transaction and the 2025 securities portfolio restructuring. The former involved assuming about $1 billion in deposits in September 2021 and investing the net cash into long-duration fixed-rate securities at low yields, a decision flagged by PL Capital as ignoring rising rate risks. The latter involved selling roughly $1.7 billion in low-yielding securities in Q3 2025, triggering more than $300 million in pre-tax losses and reverting the TBV per share to roughly $9.76, about where it stood in 2018.
PL Capital recommends Horizon immediately cease all acquisitions (“buyside acquisitions”), shift focus to organic growth (inclusive of retaining earnings, recruiting talent, expanding its customer base, and investing in technology), and seriously consider engaging a financial advisor to evaluate a potential sale, noting the regulatory window for bank M&A may be closing. They also call for reframing incentive compensation to reward TBV growth rather than asset growth, and increasing insider ownership so that executive interests align with shareholders.
Horizon has not publicly responded to the presentation as of the time of writing.
Why This Matters
The publication of such a presentation signals an escalation from private engagement to public activism. Horizon has lagged peers in key performance metrics: over the 2018–2025 period, PL Capital highlights, Horizon’s TBV per share dropped 15 % while its proxy peer average gained about 9 %. Core earnings per share declined from $2.04 in 2021 to an expected $1.28 in 2025, with a modest rebound forecasted in 2026.
The timing is notable: bank consolidation is accelerating in the U.S., and PL Capital suggests Horizon is sitting on attractive fundamentals, low-cost deposits, decent credit quality, and scale, that could make it an appealing acquisition target. But the firm warns that if Horizon continues on its current path, value may erode further. The situation places pressure on Horizon’s board and management to demonstrate responsiveness.
Investors will be watching how Horizon reacts: whether it revises its acquisition policy, initiates a strategic review, or engages with potential suitors. Any of these moves, or the lack thereof, could drive near-term share price movement and have longer-term implications for shareholder value.
In short, PL Capital’s insistence that Horizon stop buying, start improving, or perhaps sell altogether places the bank at a crossroads, with potential for either decisively improved value creation or further investor frustration.
