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The company’s acquisitions of two California-based banks since 2015, criticized by Griege as overreaching, were also undertaken to diversify HomeStreet geographically, Mason wrote.

Griege, however, noted that when measured from the start of 2013, HomeStreet shares have gained just 21 percent, while other banks and the broader market have soared.

HomeStreet CEO Mark Mason also told shareholders that “we disagree with the conclusions” that Blue Lion Capital Management principal Charles Griege laid out in the harshly worded Nov. 20 letter announcing he’d raised his firm’s stake in HomeStreet Inc. to nearly 5.8 percent.

Griege, who says his firm is the second-largest actively managed institutional investor in HomeStreet, last week demanded a board seat to help rectify what he contends are “poor returns, bloated cost structure and inefficient operations” at the bank.

For instance, Griege argued that “the most significant mistake made by you and the board was the decision to aggressively expand and grow the mortgage division.”