Caledonian Global Financial Services will seek to expand its line of services and conclude acquisitions of other financial service providers at a time when the financial services industry continues to consolidate, said Caledonian co-CEO Kobi Dorenbush at an event to celebrate the firm’s belated 40th anniversary.
Caledonian will seek to provide more active banking services and move toward investment banking and corporate finance, Mr. Dorenbush indicated.
“We will focus on being a premium financial services provider,” he said. “You can also expect to hear of Caledonian completing new acquisitions of other financial services providers as we expand our current offering.”
Mr. Dorenbush’s co-CEO Barry McQuain said the company’s new owners will continue to take risks but manage these risks in a sensible and prudent way.
“That theme will be central and core to our strategic endeavours in the future,” he said.
In July Caledonian Group announced that it had been acquired by new World Holdings, a privately held investment company in the Cayman Islands. New World’s principles Kobi Dorenbush and Barry McQuain were appointed joint CEOs of new entity Caledonian Global Financial Services. The acquisition has been approved by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority but is still awaiting regulatory approval in the Isle of Man and the British Virgin Islands.
Both CEOs were presented at an event held at Camana Bay on Thursday, 22 September, that was both a celebration of Caledonian’s history and an introduction to the firm’s future.
Tribute
The celebration paid tribute to the Walker family and in particular the late William Walker, who founded Caledonian more than 40 years ago and “will be regarded as a pioneer within the legal profession and the financial services industry of the Cayman Islands,” said CIMA Chair George McCarthy.
Mr. Walker was “a visionary and an entrepreneur who saw the potential of these islands which then were known as the islands that time forgot,” Mr. McCarthy said in a speech that outlined Caledonian’s corporate history.
Premier McKeeva Bush emphasised that Mr. Walker could have chosen anywhere in the world to build his business, but he chose Cayman because he saw potential.
“I speak for successive governments in saying that this country has achieved its prosperity and global recognition because of the work of people like the late Mr. Walker,” Mr Bush said.
Changes
David Walker, the son of William Walker and Caledonian CEO for the past eight years, said during the past four decades much has changed at Caledonian and that the company has developed lock-step with the country.
“The biggest change recently has been the sale to New World,” he said, adding that the transition had been embraced by the employees and the firm’s clients.
Mr. Walker, who has passed the CEO title to Mr. McQuain and Mr. Dorenbush, noted that apart from slight realignments of responsibilities internally and several additions as new initiatives are undertaken, there have not been any other real management changes.
Mr. Walker said he will continue to be a vocal advocate for the company and for the Cayman Islands and expressed his optimism for the future of both the Islands and Caledonian.
“I am confident that the new owners of Caledonian will take Caledonian to new heights through their leadership, drive and enthusiasm, and I am excited about their plans for the future and take great pleasure in seeing my father’s dream of building a truly international financial services firm develop and flourish under their stewardship,” he said.
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