Offshore Investment Mag

Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander International has entered into an agreement to purchase the entire share capital of the Derbyshire Building Society's offshore subsidiary, Derbyshire Offshore, it has announced.
Derbyshire Offshore is a specialised operation that offers a targeted range of fixed and variable rate sterling deposit accounts for retail and business customers. At the end of the third quarter 2007, it had total deposits of over GBP320 million (EUR 460 million).

The legal formalities are expected to be completed by the end of 2007, when existing Derbyshire Isle of Man account(s) will transfer to Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander (Isle of Man). Derbyshire Offshore will be integrated into Kaupthing's existing Isle of Man operation, and the acquisition will not result in any job losses.

Aidan Doherty, Managing Director of Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander International, announced that:

“We believe that this is very exciting news, the Derbyshire Offshore has a strong expat client base that is a good fit with our existing business. We are able to offer enhanced banking facilities to our new account holders, who have only had sterling banking facilities at their disposal up to now."

He went on to add that:

“Our parent company, Kaupthing Bank hf has a very strong credit rating from Moody's (Aa3) and from Fitch (A). It will provide a full parental guarantee in respect of our customer deposits. This guarantee will replace the parental guarantee from Derbyshire Building Society from the date of completion of the transaction, meaning that customers can continue to have peace of mind regarding the full security of their deposits.”

And concluded: “We have already written to Derbyshire Offshore account holders to confirm that the terms and conditions of their existing account(s) will be the same immediately after the transfer as before, and the account(s) will continue to operate as normal."