Regulatory approval for 21% Lombard Bank share transfer

Lombard Bank announced late last week that the necessary regulatory approvals have been received for the sale of the 21 per cent shareholding of the bank held by CCF Holdings (Suisse) and Handelsfinanz-CCF Bank to the Banca Unione di Credito.

As a result, Banca Unione di Credito would be acquiring 1,043,888 Lombard Bank shares at the price of Lm3.958 apiece, compared with the Lm2.10 Crédit Commercial de France had purchased the Lombard shares for back in February 1998.

Given Lombard’s share prices at the time of buying and selling, Crédit Commercial de France is looking at a share sale profit of Lm1,939,544.

Lombard Bank Malta had informed its shareholders on 10 January that Crédit Commercial de France SA had decided to sell off its 21 per cent shareholding in Lombard to the Swiss-based Banca Unione di Credito.

Banca Unione di Credito, a member of the FIAT Group, was founded in 1919 with its main headquarters in Lugano, Switzerland and focuses its operations primarily on commercial banking and asset management.

Interestingly, Crédit Commercial de France is, in fact, 98 per cent controlled by HSBC Holdings – a shareholding it had acquired back in April 2000 - and is one of France’s largest commercial banks.

More commonly known as CCF, the banking giant provides investment banking services for French and international institutions, finances acquisitions, deals in government securities, and participates in privatisations of state-owned businesses in Central Europe and the former Soviet Republics.

CCF had acquired its shareholding in Lombard Bank in February 1998. Through its Swiss holding company CCF Holding (Suisse) SA, it purchased shares previously held by Malaysian entrepreneur Robert Tan Hua Choon and also took a seat on the board of directors of Lombard Bank.