The Boards of Barclays, CIBC and CIBC West Indies Holdings Ltd. believe that the combination to create FirstCaribbean International Bank is in the interests of their respective shareholders and will provide benefits and opportunities for customers, staff and the relevant businesses above those which could be achieved by either operation on a standalone basis.
FirstCaribbean will bring together two complementary and leading financial services businesses in the Caribbean, offering customers enhanced products and improved and extended access to banking services. CIBC Canada and Barclays Bank Plc have agreed to combine their retail, corporate and offshore segments in the Caribbean region, including the operations in The Bahamas. This will establish FirstCaribbean as a significant Caribbean presence and enable it to play a key role in the financial services industry in the region.
CIBC West Indies and CIBC Bahamas recently announced details of a proposed $62 million rights issue for CIBC West Indies and a proposed $18 million rights issue for CIBC Bahamas. The Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) and the Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB) have approved the issue of a rights offering circular by CIBC Bahamas; meanwhile, CIBC West Indies has submitted a rights offering circular for approval by or registration with the Securities Commission of Barbados, the Trinidad & Tobago Securities Commission, and the Jamaica Securities Commission, and applicable stock exchanges.
Total one-off restructuring and integration costs of over US$70 million are expected to be incurred by FirstCaribbean as a result of the combination. Cost savings are to be sourced from the combination of infrastructure, IT savings, removal of duplicated central costs and limited branch and office co-location. Revenue synergies are expected to be sourced from new product and service introduction.