NCB Buying 50.1% of Bermudan bank

NCB Financial Group today announced the acquisition of majority shares in the Clarien Group, a Bermudan based financial group in which Portland Private Equity holds 17.92 percent interest.
Edmund Gibbons Ltd with retain 31.98 percent of the shares. The transaction has received approval from Bank of Jamaica and the Bermuda Monetary Authority provided a no objection letter, the release from NCB states but final approval is subject to the Ministry of Finance. James Gibbons a director of the group expresses the view that the linkage will enable expansion of their offering locally and globally.
In 2016, Portland Private Equity pumped in B$$12.6 million into Clarien to meet capital needs based on tighter regulatory capital requirements as well as a swelling bad debt position amounting to 14 percent of their loan portfolio. The bank is said to have made B$$500,000 profit in 2015.
According The Royal Gazette, Clarien said its loan portfolio had shrunk by $66.8 million in 2015 to $809.7 million by the end of the year. This was attributed to a trend of borrowers paying down mortgage debt.
Clarien has more than eight decades of banking history in Bermuda and is said to be the largest bank in the country.
NCB recently raised US$250 million on the local market for regional expansion, this acquisition seems to be one that was on their radar when the funds were being raised, but based on the amount Portland injected the acquisition by NCB could cost around US$40-50 million, a mere dent in the amount they raised in the summer of 2017, but with earnings of $500,000 in 2015, unless profits picked up considerably since, which seems unlikely with the acquisition by NCB, the amount paid is most likely considerably far less.
For the fiscal year to September NCB made profit of J$19.1 billion or US$146 million up from J$14.45 billion in 2016. Gross revenues for 2017 fiscal year amounted to J$75.7 billion.