A Trinidad and Tobago regional banking giant’s stake in Cayman National Corporation (CNC) has passed 87% after it made an offer to take over all remaining shares and take complete control.
Republic Financial Holdings has upped the amount of ordinary shares it has in the business from 74.98% to 87.17% – an increase of 12.19% – after its US$82 million offer closed at the end of last month.
The news means that Republic can move ahead to delist CNC from the Cayman Stock Exchange, a regulatory requirement once the percentage of shares available to trade in Cayman fell below 25%.
Republic offered US$7.75 a share through subsidiary Republic Bank Trinidad and Tobago (Barbados) for the remaining 10.59 million ordinary shares in Cayman National Bank in May.
Republic already had a controlling 74.98% majority in the Cayman bank.
Nigel Baptiste, Republic’s president and managing director, said last month that the group had wanted full control of Cayman National when it made its first offer six years ago.
But he said conditions were set that it would have to hold up to 75% of the shares for five years before a bid for full control could be launched.
Baptiste, also a director of Cayman National, added, “When five years elapsed in 2024, we went back to make an offer.”
He said there were more offers to sell in 2019 than could be accepted, so “we wanted to mop it up”.
Business as usual
Republic emphasised it would continue the business of Cayman National and retain the present board.
It also pledged that the board would continue to have a Caymanian majority “at all times”.
Cayman National, founded in 1974 and based in George Town, is Cayman’s largest homegrown financial services company and provides retail and commercial banking services.
It operates in trust, company and wealth management in the Cayman market and internationally as well.
Cayman National also has a presence in the Isle of Man, a UK Crown Dependency, where it offers banking, trust and compliance services, and custody services for assets.
The Republic Financial Holdings group covers retail and commercial banking, wealth management, investment banking and trust services, as well as offshore banking and insurance.
It operates in 15 jurisdictions, including Anguilla, Dominica, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the British Virgin Islands.
The offer for the remaining shares represents a premium of about US$0.85 a share on the closing price of Cayman National shares on 14 May, the last trading day before the notice of intention was released.
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I suppose we cannot blame shareholders for selling out to the highest bidder, but Peter Tompkins the founder would turn over in his grave at this news. He founded CNB as a Bank to be owned by Caymanians and it has flourished over many decades. The name Cayman National Bank is now a misnomer and has become Trinidad National Bank even though they will likely retain the old name.