Canada’s Bank of Nova Scotia Bids for Control of Jamaican Firm
Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada’s third-largest lender by assets, plans to buy as much as 80 percent of Jamaica’s Dehring Bunting & Golding Ltd investment firm for as much as $80 million.
Chief Executive Officer Richard Waugh explained his company is expanding in international markets where Scotiabank already has a presence.
The bank has spent more than $1 billion in acquisitions outside Canada in the past year, including purchases in Peru and the Dominican Republic.
Scotiabank operates in about 50 countries and has been in Jamaica for at least 117 years, longer than in Toronto.
Scotiabank Jamaica is that nation’s largest bank with $3.4 billion in assets, the bank said. The unit has 42 branches and reported profit of $89 million in Scotiabank’s fiscal third quarter.