Scotia Jamaica shareholders vote on $64 billion minority buyout

Votes are still being counted as Scotiabank Jamaica is seeking the greenlight from minority shareholders to push through an arrangement that will see parent company, Scotia Caribbean Holdings limited,SCHL, buying all the outstanding minority shares of Jamaica's second ranked bank.

If successful, the move would see the subsequent delisting of the shares from the Jamaica Stock Exchange after being listed for 57 years.

The court-ordered scheme of arrangement was put to shareholders at about 3:30 pm on Wednesday at a specially convened Extraordinary General Meeting. This came after spirited and sometimes vociferous contributions from some minority shareholders who charged that Scotia’s offer was too small.

SGJ had offered to buy out the remaining 878,189,600 minority shares at $61.50 per share. This would total approximately $54 billion. The offer was subsequently raised to $75 per share for a total of $64 billion.

In presenting the offer to shareholders, Scotiabank Jamaica CEO Audrey Tugwell-Henry emphasised that the offer represented a 28 per cent premium on the average 30-day market price of Scotiabank stock on the JSE.

- Neville Graham

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