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Suresh
Sookoo
BY
JUDY KANHAI
Despite a few legal hiccups, RBTT is close to acquiring Caribbean
Commercial Bank in Barbados.
Suresh Sookoo, group chief operating officer of RBTT Financial
Holdings Ltd, confirmed yesterday that there was a formal
agreement to purchase CCB.
“We
are just waiting on a final signing agreement with their Ministry
of Finance,” Sookoo said.
RBTT is also awaiting final approval from the Barbados Central
Bank.
However, it was no easy bid for RBTT.
Last December, the local financial institution was challenged
by a private group, headed by former CEO of CCB Mariano Brown.
The group, in its fight to get full control of CCB, took owners
Clico Holdings Ltd to court, challenging the possible sale
to RBTT.
One month ago, a High Court judge in Barbados dismissed the
case involving the private group.
Brown, however, was relieved of his duties in January.
Sookoo said the acquisition was already entered in the bank’s
financial audited results for the year ended March 31.
RBTT posted its financial results for 2003 in which group
assets increased by $4.1 billion and customer deposits increased
by $2.2 billion.
The CCB deal will be effective before the end of the month
when RBTT would have fully acquired CCB.
CCB has four branches in Barbados with an employee base of
140.
Last year, its assets appreciated by 10 per cent to $1 billion;
deposits reached $825.78 billion; while its interest and income
totalled $71.98 million.
The acquisition of CCB will add to RBTT’s portfolio which
has 79 branches throughout the English-speaking Caribbean,
Suriname, Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles.
RBTT already has a footprint in the Barbados market but the
CCB acquisition is the first attempt at retail banking on
the island.
Last July the bank added an offshore bank to its list of commercial
banks when it acquired Ernst & Young Trust Corporation
in Barbados.
RBTT has been listed on the Barbados Stock Exchange since
January 2, 1998.
CCB is now headed by CEO Benedict De Castro, who is not new
to the RBTT group.
De Castro is former president and CEO of RBTT’s Suriname
operations.
He left that post last year to pursue private consulting.
In a telephone interview from his Barbados office yesterday,
De Castro said he has been with RBTT through its mergers and
acquisitions throughout the Caribbean.
De Castro said he was holding the current post for Clico until
the deal is finalised.
He added, however, that he will continue working for the RBTT
group.
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