June 23 $$ day for RBTT shareholders

Published: Wednesday June 4, 2008

RBTT shareholders will begin getting monetary considerations for their shares on June 23.

This follows the completion of a US$2.2 billion acquisition of the RBTT banking group by the Royal Bank of Canada, that country's largest commercial bank, on June 16.

There are concerns, though, that release of cash to RBTT shareholders will have inflationary consequences on the local financial system.

Stockbrokers are also worried about the impact the delisting of RBTT shares will have on investors in the local stock market.

RBTT Group chief executive officer, Suresh Sookoo, confirmed yesterday that shareholders would get considerations for their RBTT shares from June 23.

In published financial results yesterday, RBTT chairman Peter July said the banking group received the necessary regulatory approvals for the amalgamation between RBTT and RBC Holdings (Trinidad & Tobago Ltd)-a subsidiary of RBC-and expected to finalise the transaction on June 16.

RBTT shares were suspended on the local stock market at the beginning of month. Shareholders on register before suspension of trading will receive a special consideration for their shares.

They voted by a 98.2 per cent majority at a special meeting on March 26 to approve the amalgamation between RBTT and RBC, and will get a cash payment for their shares as well as RBTT stock.

General manager of the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange, Wain Iton, said yesterday that the delisting of RBTT would present a "big void to fill as (RBTT) is the most liquid stock", and represented 13 per cent of market stock.

He said the focus of the Exchange would be to fill this void by ensuring new listings could be found in the short to medium term, so the investing public would have viable trading options. The Exchange is currently looking at introducing depository receipts as an option to traders, but Iton, in a telephone interview, admitted this was not a complete solution.

For its financial year ended March 31, 2008, RBTT posted pre-tax earnings of $1.309 billion, but profit attributable to shareholders remained flat as the group's tax charge increased significantly by $124 million, RBTT chairman July said.

The group's profit attributable to shareholders stood at $931 million, the same as last year.


Source: Trinidad Express Newspapers
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_business?id=161333332