EXHIBIT 5.0 OPINION OF MULDOON, MURPHY & FAUCETTE RE: LEGALITY
LETTERHEAD
September 30, 1996
Board of Directors
Delphos Citizens Bancorp, Inc.
114 East 3rd Street
Delphos, Ohio 45833
Re: The offering of up to 1,782,500 shares of
Delphos Citizens Bancorp, Inc. Common Stock
Gentlemen:
You have requested our opinion concerning certain matters of Delaware law
in connection with the conversion of Citizens Federal Savings and Loan
Association of Delphos (the "Association"), a federally-chartered savings
association, from the mutual form of ownership to the stock form of ownership
(the "Conversion"), and the related subscription offering, community offering
and syndicated community offering (the "Offerings") by Delphos Citizens Bancorp,
Inc., a Delaware corporation (the "Company"), of up to 1,782,500 shares of its
common stock, par value $.01 per share ("Common Stock"), (2,049,875 shares if
the Estimated Valuation Range is increased up to 15% to reflect changes in
market and financial conditions following commencement of the Offerings).
In connection with your request for our opinion, you have provided to us
and we have reviewed the Company's certificate of incorporation filed with the
Delaware Secretary of State on July 24, 1996 (the "Certificate of
Incorporation"); the Company's Bylaws; the Company's Registration Statement on
Form S-1, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission initially on
August 22, 1996 and as amended on September 30, 1996 (the "Registration
Statement"); a consent of the sole incorporator of the Company; resolutions of
the Board of Directors of the Company (the "Board") concerning the organization
of the Company, the Offerings and designation of a Pricing Committee of the
Board, and the form of stock certificate approved by the Board to represent
shares of Common Stock. We have also been furnished a certificate of the
Delaware Secretary of State certifying the Company's good standing as a Delaware
corporation. Capitalized terms used but not defined herein shall have the
meaning given them in the Certificate of Incorporation.
Board of Directors
September 30, 1996
Page 2
In rendering this opinion, we have relied upon the opinion of Morris,
Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell as to matters of Delaware law upon which opinion we
believe we are justified in relying.
We understand that the Company will loan to the trust for the Association's
Employee Stock Ownership Plan (the "ESOP") the funds the ESOP Trust will use to
purchase shares of Common Stock for which the ESOP Trust subscribes pursuant to
the Offerings and for purposes of rendering the opinion set forth in paragraph 2
below, we assume that: (a) the Board has duly authorized the loan to the ESOP
Trust (the "Loan"); (b) the ESOP serves a valid corporate purpose; (c) the Loan
will be made at an interest rate and on other terms that are fair to the
Company; (d) the terms of the Loan will be set forth in customary and
appropriate documents including, without limitation, a promissory note
representing the indebtedness of the ESOP Trust to the Company as a result of
the Loan; and (e) the closing for the Loan and for the sale of Common Stock to
the ESOP Trust will be held after the closing for the sale of the other shares
of Common Stock sold in the Offerings and the receipt by the Company of the
proceeds thereof.
Based upon and subject to the foregoing, and limited in all respects to
matters of Delaware law, it is our opinion that:
1. The Company has been duly organized and is validly existing in good
standing as a corporation under the laws of the State of Delaware.
2. Upon the due adoption by the Pricing Committee of a resolution fixing
the number of shares of Common Stock to be sold in the Offerings, the Common
Stock to be issued in the Offerings (including the shares to be issued to the
ESOP Trust) will be duly authorized and, when such shares are sold and paid for
in accordance with the terms set forth in the Prospectus and such resolution of
the Pricing Committee, and certificates representing such shares in the form
provided to us are duly and properly issued, will be validly issued, fully paid
and nonassessable.
The following provisions of the Certificate of Incorporation may not be
given effect by a court applying Delaware law, but in our opinion the failure to
give effect to such provisions will not affect the duly authorized, validly
issued, fully paid and nonassessable status of the Common Stock:
Board of Directors
September 30, 1996
Page 3
1. (a) Subsections C.3 and C.6 of Article FOURTH and Section D of
Article EIGHTH, which grant the Board the authority to construe
and apply the provisions of those Articles, subsection C.4 of
Article FOURTH, to the extent that subsection obligates any
person to provide to the Board the information such subsection
authorizes the Board to demand, and the provision of Subsection
C.7 of Article EIGHTH empowering the Board to determine the Fair
Market Value of property offered or paid for the Company's stock
by an Interested Stockholder, in each case to the extent, if any,
that a court applying Delaware law were to impose equitable
limitations upon such authority; and
(b) Article NINTH of the Certificate of Incorporation, which
authorizes the Board to consider the effect of any offer to
acquire the Company on constituencies other than stockholders in
evaluating any such offer.
We consent to the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to the Registration
Statement on Form S-1 and the Form AC and to the use of the name of our firm
where it appears in the Registration Statement, Form AC and Prospectus.
Very truly yours,
/s/ Muldoon, Murphy & Faucette
MULDOON, MURPHY & FAUCETTE