The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) has halted the sale of a $797m stake in its Caribbean unit as regulators did not approve the deal.
CIBC wanted to sell two-thirds of stake in CIBC FirstCaribbean to GNB Financial Group, a company spearheaded by Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski.
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CIBC and GNB Financial agreed on the deal back in November 2019.
The deal valued FirstCaribbean at nearly $1.2bn, down from its previous $2.8bn valuation, when CIBC acquired majority of the business.
A successful sale would have left CIBC with only 25% stake in the bank.
The details regarding which regulators rejected the deal was not shared by CIBC.
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By GlobalDataFirstCaribbean group head of capital markets Harry Culham said: “While this transaction would have supported FirstCaribbean’s long-term growth prospects, it is only one way of creating value for stakeholders.
“FirstCaribbean is focused on building deep, long-lasting client relationships in the Caribbean, optimizing our business, and enhancing efficiency over time.
“We remain committed to executing on our long-term strategy and delivering the best outcome for clients, shareholders, team members and communities.”
CIBC also did not divulge any reasons for why the deal was rejected by the regulators.
In December, CIBC introduced a conversational AI-based Virtual Assistant powered by IBM Watson Assistant.
It also debuted a financial planning platform that turns insights into personalised plans for customers last year.
