CIBC Ups Stake In FirstCaribbean

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) announced that it is to take control of FirstCaribbean International Bank by doubling its stake to 87.4%. It plans to buy an extra 43.7% from Barclays PLC for about $1.08 billion. BCM and Barclays created FirstCaribbean, now the largest bank in the English-speaking Caribbean region, in 2002 when they merged their Caribbean operations. FirstCaribbean has assets of $9.6 billion and a market value of $3.3 billion.