By MARTELLA MATTHES

Guardian Business Reporter

martella@nasguard.com

The Bermuda-based Bank of N. T. Butterfield and Son Ltd though its United Kingdom arm, has made a cash offer for the Leopold Joseph Holding PLC headquartered in London.

In a Feb. 5 statement, the bank announced its offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Leopold Joseph Holdings pending approval from the company's shareholders and regulators.

The recommended cash offer price will be £9.50 pounds per share, which would give the existing issued share capital of Leopold Joseph an approximate value of £51.5 million pounds ($94.5 million). ANZ Investment Bank is acting as financial adviser to Bank of Butterfield for this transaction.

Leopold Joseph, founded in 1919 is a wholly owned subsidiary in Guernsey, offering banking, treasury, investment management, offshore company administration and trust services to companies and high net worth individuals.

Commenting on the acquisition, Alan Thompson, president and CEO of the bank said the acquisition of Leopold Joseph would enhance the company's presence in the U.K. and Guernsey providing a platform for further growth in the private banking arena in these markets. "This acquisition is entirely consistent with our stated group strategy of growing our business in the U.K. and Guernsey markets," he said.

Earlier this month, Bank of Butterfield announced its acquisition of Deerfield Fund Services following the acquisition of Thorand Bank and Trust and Leopold Joseph (Bahamas) Ltd, now known as Bank of Butterfield (Bahamas) Ltd in August of last year.

Bank of Butterfield also acquired The Mutual Bank of The Caribbean Inc. a Barbadian retail bank in December from its major shareholder Sagicor Financial Corp.

Along with its offices in Bermuda and The Bahamas, the Bank of Butterfield has offices in the Cayman Islands, Barbados, Guernsey and the United Kingdom. The bank is also traded on the Bermuda and Cayman stock exchanges.

Posted: Tuesday February 17, 2004