Regional bank triggers offer for control of CNB
Cayman National
(CNS): The board of Cayman National Corporation, the parent company of Cayman National Bank, has confirmed that it is currently considering a possible takeover offer by a regional player based in Barbados. The Republic Bank Trinidad and Tobago (Barbados) Limited (RBTTBL), which is owned by Republic Financial Holdings Limited, has announced it is considering the potential acquisition of at least 51% and up to 74.99% of the shareholding in Cayman National. “The assessment of this potential acquisition opportunity is in the embryonic stage as a due diligence exercise is presently ongoing,” RFHL officials said.
The regional bank’s ‘potential offer’ to Cayman National shareholders, if it becomes a formal one, could be more than double the share price. RBTTBL, which does not currently hold any shares in the local bank, has floated an offer of between US$6 to US$6.75 per share, compared to the closing price at the time of the offer of US$3. RFHL said that no agreement has been entered into and the potential acquisition is subject to a number of other factors aside from CNB shareholder agreement, such as regulatory approvals, its own diligence exercise and board approval.
The offer was unsolicited and Cayman National said in a release posted on its website that there is no certainty that the possible offer will be made to shareholders, urging caution and telling them to take no action with their shares at this point. T,he bank said several conditions would still need to be met even after a formal offer is made.
However, according to the release, the “board has determined that it is in the interests of shareholders to engage with RBTTBL over the possible offer”, and that the directors are considering their response. “If a Definitive Agreement is entered into, further announcement will be made,” the bank said, which would include additional information on the offer and the proposed agreement. A general meeting would also be set for shareholders.
Cayman National was established in 1974 and is the largest financial services company based in the Cayman Islands. RBTTBL, which was created in 1999, is a licensed offshore international financial business and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Republic Financial Holdings Limited. RBTTBL currently has wholly-owned subsidiary in the Cayman Islands, Republic Bank (Cayman Limited).
Category: Banking & money, Business
A sad position if the shareholders and government agree to this buyout. To think that we are a strong financial industry yet we would not have one local “Caymanian” class A bank. What is that saying to the world?
Government is a shareholder. What is that saying to you?
Pride, nationalism, patriotic, honor? Something you probably have no clue about!
Who exactly is “we” in your ” we win” ??
Well aren’t you a nice piece of work? SMH
950. This is not about rules.
We dont need your small minded locals bank. Like we do not need the media.
They will go out of business.
See any old names on buildings? Change has come and more coming.
We win.
There are very few Caymanian teachers in the system so not sure where you going with that one.
In any case YOU are in Cayman, are you expecting something else?
all banks here suffer with the same problem…. too many caymanians in their workforce.
sorry for the political incorrectness but also read recent stories about the state of the local schools and you will see where i am coming from.
Suspect this is someone trying to stir the pot. Please ignore.
Get with the program Bobo.
Deposit the cheques in your account and use your debit card.
Why is anyone still changing cheques?
That is why the fee for that service is so high, they want to discourage you from doing something so backwards.
Not true.
Also available to CUC staff too and by extension everybody here family so even if you don’t work for one of them, you got some auntie, cousin, sister, brother working at one of them.
Credit Union need to get staff who know what they doing.
Hears stories about them often.
My co-worker complains about them all the time but for some reason is still there.
not just staff who know what they doing,
staff in general its always only like 2-3 people at the front and a line out the door. aren’t they like 7-8 positions and not even half covering it.
I am the poster you responded to.
I’m happy to be corrected about the Government owning shares. Your use of the defined term “the Bank” suggests to me you’re an employee or shareholder of or service provider to CNB who either doesn’t stand to lose anything or stands to gain. I can only guess but we’re going to have to agree to disagree. They don’t have any trouble paying my bills so I don’t see a need for them to be taken over. Plus, I’m sick and tired of Caymanians selling out. Of course there are challenges. Caymanians have always had challenges. They used to find ways of dealing with them with what they had, working together, and didn’t need rescuing from a hostile environment. I’d like to see a return to that mentality rather than the ‘every man for himself’ we see now. Yes it’s all become very sophisticated and difficult. Let’s give up and be owned by Trinidad for ***** sake. That’s the Caymanian spirit! Really man. Whose side are you on?
anoymous 8.13pm 08/08/18 If you feel like Caymanians have to be the only people to own shares in CNC why don’t you buy out the shares and own the Bank yourself. Trust me Banking is risky and the future won’t be kind to small Banks and businesses in the future. But then again some people never notice how financially difficult it is for the small man and women these days.
anonymous 12.23pm Cayman Government owned shares in Cayman General Insurance but sold these a long time ago, at a loss. The risks you mention are the very most pessimistic, but the Bank faces serious challenges in the future, as small banks can not survive in the ever changing highly regulated financial environment. CNB capital is $115M and has to constantly do high risk business transactions instead of being able to take part in the more moderate risks such as consortium lending and lending to large corporations and the Government. Truth be known staff redundancies are always a risk and being a bigger bank may actually reduce this risk.
anonymous 12.23pm Cayman Government owned shares in Cayman General Insurance but sold these a long time ago, at a loss. The risks you mention are the very most pessimistic, but the Bank faces serious challenges in the future, as small banks can not survive in the ever changing highly regulated financial environment. CNB capital is $115M and has to constantly do high risk business transactions instead of being able to take part in the more moderate risks such as consortium lending and lending to large corporations and the Government. Truth be known staff redundancies are always a risk and being a bigger bank may actually reduce this risk.
Dont worry folks. Government will agree to underwrite the bank to keep it Caymanian as part of our culture and heritage and it will join those other heritage entities the Turtle Farm and Cayman Airways as something to be kept going by the tax payer dollar. It may even, like Cayman Airways, to quote Truman, “make a profit….. after subsidy”.
They are, to the tune of 24% of shares.
You: “…is the money worth no longer owning these shares.”
Cayman Islands Government: “Hell yeah.”
Would you really expect anything less?
And Y2K was going to blow up the world…
Credit Union is only available to civil servants and family.
Not Credit Union. If they come with better rates to capitalize on this, they’ll be swimming in transfers. In addition to being a good bank, patriotism is one of the reasons that a lot of people patronize CNB. Credit Union should step up their game and capitalize on that.
Credit Union…just prepare yourself for the long lines.
Crabs in a bucket
Expat something something. Jobs for Caymanians something something..
free to account holders, as with all banks. CNB charges $1 to change checks for non-account holders. Not free but significantly less that FCIB that charges $10 to change a check.
Replaced with Trinidadian staff. Worse people in the world to work with. CNB going down the drain if they make Trinidad take over the bank. I for one will move my funds. Going back to a Canadian owned bank.
1:04pm, withdraw the last cent, ASAP. Ask the Trina’s how much they are allowed to withdraw and how much they can travel overseas with?
What’s all the fuss about. How many of you ever enquired about even buying a share of CNB? The major shareholders with thousands of shares, like all capitalist businessmen; have no allegiance to any country, their country is anywhere they can make more profit. Wake up! Do you think any Bank has your real interest? Let the sale go through it wouldn’t make any difference to you or me. Wish they had sold me some shares a few years ago when I enquired as a Caymanian BoBo.
The shareholders will be very tempted, one of the biggest being the Government which took 24% of Cayman National Corporation in settlement of its insurance claims from Ivan. The question for those large shareholders (the Government, certain founding members), and the Company will be ‘is the money worth no longer owning these shares and causing the only truly local bank to be overtaken with all the consequences that causes?’ The more shares you own the more tempted you will be by the money. Customers and staff on the other hand are certain to suffer if this happens. Middle-management and lower-level executive positions will be eliminated and functions exercised overseas. That will be a lot of households out of a very good income. Those who remain will report to someone lower in the organisation than they are used to, based overseas, and so will find themselves effectively demoted in status and autonomy. Customers will suffer the most as everything they are used to changes and declines in quality. The question then is, is it in the best interests of Cayman National Corporation to allow majority control of itself to be acquired to the detriment of every stakeholder except the current shareholders, bearing in mind that once those shareholders have sold their shares, they disappear from the equation – the shareholder to care about then is Republic, and it will appoint a board that will aim to realise the goals driving the offer in the first place. So as soon as you act in the financial best interests of the current shareholders, they disappear, and you’ve really acted in the best interests of Republic, who now own the shares, got what they wanted, appoint their Board, and now it’s a whole different company. I wouldn’t want to be one of the lawyers advising CNC (well, actually I would because it’s finely balanced and very interesting, but will be rough going for them).
2020 public register is coming. Then you will see a huge sell-off of all types. Cayman housing market will be like all the rest.
Can’t wait for blockchain to make banks obsolete.
That’s the only thing we have left so they just as well take that too.
i went rbc to change 3 checks…they wanted charge $ci 30 bucks…i went cnb…it was free????? banks are the pits nowadays
So a bank headquartered in the ONLY blacklisted island in the caribbean rife with murder, isis recruits, corruption, human and drug trafficking wants to enter Cayman. What could go wrong?
Top Comment @ 4:43 ! It always bewildered me also, growing up in Caymans economic landscape and then travelling around the world and wondering why Cayman’s new wealthy and merchant class, do not spread out globally or even regionally yet other nationalities set up shop and exploit just about every industry of Cayman’s fairly small local economy, seemingly unchallenged and encouraged, all whilst the locals are disenfranchised.
While we at it, So a certain individual who is domiciled and does a lot of business here is on the board of Republic Bank (Cayman) Ltd, and is also a major shareholder and top client of Cayman National Bank. I dunno, conflict much ? amongst the many that is understood to be behind this proposed deal.
Zim Zimma, who got the keys to my bimma ?
i goung look into carrying my mortgage to the credit union…yeah the interest a bit higher than banks…but the encourage saving…give roughly 2 to 5 percent on shares yearly and they treat us like we human beings!????☺ banks seem to be different these days….????????
Why is it, that everything that is owned by Caymanians have to be sold? Can’t we keep something that is Caymanian owned to say it is for us?
I shake my head at who ever gave this a thumbs down.. People like them are the are the reason Cayman is being sold out from under us. No sense of national patriotism or pride. When will people realize this needs to stop..
It’s a business! Start one yourself!
Its called GREED.
Its a global thing. Some of the biggest brand names you can think of are not owned by who you might think own them…all furreners.
Why doesn’t this article indicate the total value of the deal? That is the information that would be interesting. If CNB is only worth $3.00/share, unless there are many million shares outstanding, not much.
Go to CSX…42,350,731 shares issued (unclear if this also includes staff rights and warrants, if any are outstanding). Puts a value on this deal of >$254 mln
All speculation at this point. But as someone who has been proactively involved in such takeovers in the past, here are some of the likely outcomes:
1. Republic will obviously want majority control of the Board of Directors, effectively ending Cayman Nationals’ “local” control and perception of being a “local” bank.
2. Republic will want some of “their own” people in Senior Management positions (hence Republic paying a premium, perhaps some of which will be used as severance packages).
3. Obviously Republic would want to consolidate their operations – moving the headquarters out of Cayman – with the usual offer of keeping your post . . . but in another country.
4. CNB Managers/Assistant Managers who do not have some sort of college degree would be prime targets to be replaced by foreign nationals with such qualifications. Other positions that require a Bachelors or Masters degree or certification in a specific financial area and are being held by person who do not have such would be subject to replacement.
5. Republic isn’t investing into CNB because it love$ Cayman and the Caymanian people. In an effort to become more co$t efficient, it would not be crazy to think that Republic would
a. Reduce locations and close down a branch or two.
b. While CNB maintains a presence on all three islands, I can see Republic reducing the service in Little Cayman to one day per week (from a financial viewpoint it absolutely does not make any sense to send two staff and a guard to Little Cayman two days per week).
c. Cut back on sponsorship money for various activities – ie. community outreach.
Now, common sense will tell us that if you have some that is valued at $3 per share and you can get $6 per share – you $ell – isn’t that the reason you invested in the shares in the first place. Welcome to the world of reality, will see if the CNB shareholders can re$i$t the money that is being offered. May the founders and current Board of Directors enjoy their newfound doubled up wealth (yes I am being sarcastic)
Signed,
Caymanian bank, Caymanian people, blah, blah, blah this isn’t above you this is about $$$$$$$$$$.
Why do I get the feeling that this whole things is in need of some more detailed investigation? Whatever the situation, the potentially negative impact of this deal on the wider economy needs to be taken into consideration by the government before they give their approval for it to move forward.
Agreed, the government needs to be involved in this.
credit union about to see a boom! how come all these Caymanian business men don’t go around the world buying up other nationalities things? hmmm maybe because they are too busy selling Cayman!
We are certainly in the last days prophecy is fast fulfilling.
Yup!
Get right with J.C.
If this deal goes through I will be moving my loans. I have banked with many other banks on island over the past 20 years and for me at least CNB was the best for my needs.
I do feel many more persons might feel this way as far as transferring to another bank. CNB take note you could lose a lot of customers if you make this move.
Bye bye jobs. I am sure fees will go up too.
Well done! Banking under British rule is no longer safe! These days the special interest crave my private information!
[chuckle]
I say, bring it on, you losers! Can’t catch me now! 🙂
Everyone wants a piece of paradise. Can we blame them. Everyone wants to come here and never leave.
We caymanians rock!!
Time to transfer the mortgage methinks.
But where to, is the question. ALL of the other banks are foreign owned with head offices in other countries.
Board of directors need to consult with shareholders to get guidance of the way forward. I trust that We will receive notice of an extraordinary general meeting shortly.
CNB is a joke. They should be encouraging people to save but no.
They have restrictions like all sorts of fees and you have to deposit monies in your account ever so often or they will seize all of your money.
They are going to go out of business and I hope it is soon. Karma has got to come back to them. We hate CNB and their crazy rules. Good Bye and good riddance for stealing my money.
Royal Bank of Canada was my bank for over 25 years. It was such a pleasure doing business with them, going in there and dealing primarily with our own Caymanains on all levels was what kept me there for so many years. Customer Service in my opinion was the BEST. Then they too became totally controlled by The Bahamians and Trinidadians. The customer service went “to the dogs”, and in my opinion that entire Bank has “gone to the dogs”. I hope CNB don’t make that mistake.
Perhaps you had a bad, personal experience but I can assure you that the majority of CNB’s CAYMANIAN customers are happy with them and yes, we do realise that we have to pay fees to the bank, in order for them to continue to operate.
@ 7:36 pm
I think you meant RBC.
LOL
ALL banks have rules! If your account is not active , as in , transactions taking place, it is considered dormant after a period of time. Then yes those funds can be taken …. NOT just CNB does this …. ALL banks do this. Scotia requires 2 forms of ID to change a cheque if you dont have an account, Royal bank does not cash cheques you must open an acct. So good luck finding a banking institution without rules
Here we go again. I hope if this sale goes through they do not model operations after the other Caribbean Bank in Cayman. Too many sour face persons who can’t even crack a smile. SAD!!
And can’t give you an answer on loan / credit transactions because it’s being dealt with Barbados/ Bahamas etc…..
Why would this one be any different? Just asking.
Goodby jobs
CNB is the best bank on island and it happens to also be the only local bank. If it is sold, I will likely go back to Credit Union and carrying cash.
All the other commercial banks have been driving away business over the last several years with fee increases and bad business practices. Many people moved assets into CNB during this time. Don’t sell out CNB.
Lol. Caymanian owners cashing out.
I moved from RBC to CNB because of the service and the interest rates, plus couldn’t get anything done because RBC had to go to the Bahamas/Trinidad for every blasted thing .. now where the h*** do I move to now? Jamaica???
Try so don’t go back to RBC what a circus they got going on over there. RBC has to be worst bank to be at now !
If this “deal” goes through, half of the employees there will be replaced.
That few?