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Butterfield Announces Agreement to Sell Barbados Subsidiary to First Citizens Bank
Hamilton, Bermuda – 07 May, 2012 - The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited (“Butterfield” or the “Bank”) today announced that it has reached an agreement to sell its wholly-owned Barbados subsidiary, Butterfield Bank (Barbados) Limited, to Trinidad and Tobago-based First Citizens Bank Limited (“First Citizens”). Pending regulatory approval, the sale is expected to be completed during the third quarter of 2012 with gross proceeds, subject to normal adjustments, of US$ 45 million.
Butterfield Bank (Barbados) Limited provides retail, premium and business banking and lending services, merchant services, and credit and debit card services in Barbados. It employs 114 staff at its main office in Carlisle House in central Bridgetown and five additional Banking Centres across the island. The bank had assets of B$ 617 million (US$ 308 million) and customer deposits of B$ 540 million (US$ 270 million) at 31 December 2011.
Butterfield Bank (Barbados) Limited was established in 2003 upon the acquisition by Butterfield of the Barbados assets of the Mutual Bank of the Caribbean, Inc.; at the time a subsidiary of The Barbados Mutual Life Assurance Society.
First Citizens’ acquisition of Butterfield Bank (Barbados) Limited represents the first acquisitive expansion of its full service banking business outside of its home market of Trinidad and Tobago. The company currently offers investment services in Barbados (as well as St. Vincent and St. Lucia) through its First Citizens Investment Services subsidiary. First Citizens has assets of almost US$ 5 billion and equity of over US$800 million, providing a strong platform for the Barbados bank.
Bradford Kopp, Butterfield’s President & Chief Executive Officer, said, “Since entering the Barbados market in 2003, Butterfield has made good progress in improving and expanding our banking services on the island, and we have built a loyal customer base. This divestiture, the gain on which will be finalised on closing, is consistent with our strategy to simplify our operating model and focus our resources and capital on a smaller number of businesses where we have scale and competitive advantage.”
Mr. Kopp continued, “In First Citizens, Butterfield has found the ideal buyer for our Barbados operations: a full service bank with a strong reputation for service and innovation, which has a well-established, complementary business on the island. Our employees, customers and premises in Barbados are a good fit with First Citizens’
business model, and we are confident that all stakeholders will benefit from this transaction.”
Larry Howai, the Group Chief Executive Officer at First Citizens said “This transaction confirms that First Citizens is well on course in terms of its strategic direction, particularly as it relates to acquisitions and regional expansion. This is certainly a ‘win win’ situation for both organisations and what is most rewarding is the fact that the customer wins. I must emphasise that our commitment to put customers first has been replicated in Barbados through our Investment Services Company and will be extended to more communities thanks to Butterfield Bank (Barbados)”
About Butterfield:
The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited (“Butterfield”) is Bermuda’s first and largest independent bank, and a specialist provider of international financial services. The Butterfield Group offers a full range of community banking services in Bermuda, Barbados and the Cayman Islands, encompassing retail and corporate banking and treasury activities. Butterfield also provides private banking, asset management and personal trust services from its headquarters in Bermuda and subsidiary offices in the Cayman Islands, Guernsey and the United Kingdom. In Switzerland and The Bahamas, Butterfield provides personal trust and company services. Butterfield is a publicly traded corporation with shares listed on the Bermuda and Cayman Islands stock exchanges. Butterfield’s share price is published daily in The Royal Gazette (www.theroyalgazette.com) and is also available on Bloomberg Financial Markets (symbol: NTB BH) and the Bermuda Stock Exchange website (www.bsx.com). Further details on the Butterfield Group can be obtained from our website at: www.butterfieldgroup.com.
About First Citizens:
The First Citizens Group is one of the leading financial services groups in Trinidad and Tobago. It offers a full range of retail, corporate and merchant banking services, as well as asset management, trustee and brokerage services. The Group is headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago and First Citizens Bank, which is the largest part of the Group, has an extensive retail branch network in Trinidad and Tobago with a large deployment of ATM and point of sale devices in both islands. First Citizens is the best rated indigenous financial institution in the English speaking Caribbean with long term foreign currency counterparty credit ratings of Baa1from Moody’s and BBB+ from Standard & Poor’s. The Group has successfully issued fixed income paper in the international market, with the most recent being a USD 175 million placement in February 2011. Further details on First Citizens Group can be obtained from the website, www.firstcitizenstt.com.
Advisers
Butterfield was advised by Macfarlanes and Sandler O’Neill and First Citizens was advised by Akerman Senterfitt, Lex Caribbean and PAF Securities.
Media Relations Contacts:
Butterfield:
Mark Johnson
Vice President, Communications, Brand & Public Affairs
The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited
65 Front Street, Hamilton, HM 12
Bermuda
Phone: (441) 299 1624
Cellular: (441) 524 1025
Fax: (441) 295 3878
E-mail: mark.johnson@butterfieldgroup.com
First Citizens:
Sharon Christopher
Deputy CEO, Corporate Administration
First Citizens Group
Corporate Centre
9 Queen’s Park East
Port of Spain
Trinidad
Phone: (868) 624 3178 ext 2003
Cellular: (868) 678 7338
Fax: (868) 624 5981