Jun 2008 Financial News

Slow turnout to cash in RBTT stock

Jun 23, 2008

ONE WEEK after RBTT Financial Holdings completed the country's largest banking deal in years, the Group has been disappointed by the small number of minority shareholders who have turned up to cash in their stock.

Today is the first day that shareholders who submitted documents to escrow agent RBTT Trust Ltd would recieve their payment of cash and shares following the US$2.2 billion June 16, takeover of RBTT by the Royal Bank of Canada, that country's largest bank.

Local and regional RBTT stockholders will get cash and RBC shares for their RBTT stock.

While large institutional investors have submitted their documents to recieve payments, only, 3,000 minority shareholders of the Port of Spain bank had turned in their letters of transmittal on Friday.

RBTT has almost 16,000 shareholders who have been on the end of an advertising blitz by the bank over the past few weeks.

RBTT has also distributed the paperwork to shareholders in the mail, offered it on-line, placed a lawyer on standby and rerouted 100 staff members to deal with the expected influx of shareholders.

The masses have not appeared.
RBTT Group chief executive Suresh Sookoo admitted the banking group was "disappointed" with the response by minority shareholders.

He noted that as of 3 p.m. on Friday, only 3,000 shareholders had submitted documents following a check at the bank's designated centre at the Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain.

Sookoo pointed out that the large institutions tutional investors has tendered their documents and urged minority shareholders to submit their letters so they could begin recieving their cash and shares.

Many of these minority stockholders objected to the sale of the bank but they were outvoted by an overwhelming majority to approve the RBC takeover of RBTT at a special shareholders meeting at the Hilton Trinidad on March 26.

The slow response from shareholders comes amid Government issuing at $1 billion bond, its first for the year, to address the expected overflowing liquidity that will come into the system when stockholders begin taking up their cash/share considerations.

Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira told Parliament recently that the RBC/RBTT deal would inject about $4.7 billion into teh financial system.

Trinidad Daily Express
Page 4
June 23, 2008