FirstCaribbean acquires two companies from parent CIBC

FirstCaribbean International Bank will acquire two regional companies, CIBC Bank and Trust Company based in Cayman, and CIBC Trust Company in the Bahamas, from its parent in a shares-only transaction that will result in a marginal uptick of CIBC's holdings in the regional banking group.

The transaction will see FirstCaribbean issuing 51,917,808 common shares to CIBC Investments Cayman Limited, the vehicle used by ultimate parent, CIBC of Canada, to hold its regional banking assets. It will push CIBC's interest in FirstCaribbean up from 91.39 per cent to 91.67 per cent, representing improved shareholdings of 1.445 billion units of the 1.525 billion in issue.

Multimillion-dollar deal

The deal is worth US$76.8 million. Its closing is subject to regulatory approval.

FirstCaribbean trades in its home market as well as on the Port-of-Spain and Kingston exchanges. The banking group has a stock market value of J$177 billion inside Jamaica at its current trading price of about J$116 per unit. It is trading at TT$8.50 (J$115) in Trinidad and BDS$3 (J$129) in Barbados.

CIBC Bank and Trust and CIBC Trust Company provide trust and fund administration services to private wealth management clients and institutional investors in the Caribbean, FirstCaribbean said in a statement from its head office in Barbados.

Chief executive officer of FirstCaribbean, Rik Parkhill, said the businesses "are geographically complementary, they possess strong complementary balance sheets, solid and experienced management teams, and their operations will integrate seamlessly with FirstCaribbean, yielding cost and revenue synergies."

Parkhill took over as CEO of FirstCaribbean on September 12, replacing John Orr in the usual rotation of bosses by CIBC Canada.

CIBC FirstCaribbean operates in 17 regional markets.

mcpherse.thompson@gleanerjm.com