Global Capital to bid for Lombard Bank majority 49% shareholding

Global Capital, which owns the second largest stake in Lombard Bank, is financially supported by York Capital, a leading private equity fund

Insurance specialist Global Capital plc has announced a substantial binding offer to acquire the majority 49% shareholding in Lombard Bank Malta plc.

The bid by Global Capital – which holds the second largest stake in Lombard Bank (5.54%) through a subsidiary – was submitted in writing to the Special Administrator of Cyprus Popular Bank Public Co. Ltd, which owns 21 million shares in Lombard Bank.

The offer by Global Capital is financially supported by York Capital, one of the leading private equity funds with over €25 billion under management, and by other institutional and private investors.

Global Capital Executive Chairman Paolo Catalfamo said: “We believe our offer is very beneficial to the shareholders of Lombard Bank and those of Global Capital. We are also in a position to create many synergies with Lombard and Maltapost plc, in which the bank holds a 70%  shareholding, since Global Capital is today primarily an insurance business. It’s a win-win for all entities.”

Global Capital plc’s offer is not only binding, but also waives the requirement for a due diligence process to speed up the sale of the Cypriot shareholding which was authorised by the Special Administrator in 2016.

Global Capital also said its offer facilitates a European Union recommendation for the creation of a competitive environment in the sale of stakes in public companies like Lombard Bank Malta plc.

The National Development and Social Fund, the Malta government posterity fund that recieves revenue from the sale of Maltese citizenship, this week said it would soon sign a promise of sale for the Cyprus Popular Bank shareholding in Lombard Bank.

The Cyprus bank has been under increasing pressure by the authority set up to administer its affairs to sell its 49% shareholding by summer 2018, a deadline imposed by the European Central Bank and the European Banking Authority so it can settle its dues with both depositors and shareholders.

However, the share sale, set in motion in March 2016, was held up after the bidders shortlisted from the original 20 were not given access to the bank’s confidential financial information, meaning they could not confirm their non-binding offers.