........to create a new banking force, OneSavings.
Merging its £2.2 billion assets with American private equity firm JC Flowers.
Still needs ratification by FSA and needs approval of 75% of its savers and borrowers. But there are no windfall tempters, so they may not be so keen on the idea.
Just hoping that this doesn't affect sponsorship money. KRBS will retain 60% stake. If members vote yes, new bank could be created in Feb 2011.
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Cant see it being a curse they are not going out of business and our deal will have to be honoured and if as it says KRBS retain that 60% there should be no problems at all.
Can't see a US business wanting to continue with sponsorship of a local team in a sport they don't understand.
If KRBS do retain 60% ownership, it's not a US firm and they would still dictate what does or does not happen.
And a team.
Fourteen KRBS outlets were pruned down to 8 and only two of these are full branches. CEO Mike Lazenby had said that traditional branches were 'liabilities'. As the high street presence all but disappeared, KRBS sought to raise its profile by sponsoring us and the Gills. That aspect hasn't changed. KRBS is still a mutual, a rarity these days, but following the Northern Rock crash, mutuals have found it harder to raise cash to build their business. The City belives that JC Flowers is stepping into this funding gap and will use its position to woo other small societies to join in and create a new bank, OneSavings, that will challenge the traditional players, Barclays, HSBC, LLoyds etc. So it's very early days, but in the meantime, I don't think we should be encouraging Robbie to only make one save :-)
The group plans to raise £50m from JC Flowers in a move that will see it become the first building society to take external capital.
Under the new name Kent Reliance Provident Society (KRPS), the group's switch in status will allow it to remain as a mutual while also having the ability to expand through acquiring other banks and building societies.
JC Flowers is expected to take a significant minority stake of around 40% in the new bank, held within KRPS.
Kent Reliance Building Society (KRBS) hopes the deal will take place next year, if it can get member backing and the necessary regulatory approval.
Its 168,000 members will be sent details in September and will be asked to vote at a special meeting in October.
Details first emerged last month, but Kent Reliance and JC Flowers have been in talks for around 10 months.
For KRBS, the deal provides an innovative way to gain fresh capital to grow - a difficult task for building societies left hamstrung by the credit crisis and squeeze on profit margins as banks have competed ruthlessly for retail savers to finance lending.
And it would offer JC Flowers its long-awaited chance to enter the UK financial services sector.
It considered a bid for Northern Rock before it was nationalised, while it tried and failed to seal a merger with life and pensions group Friends Provident and is recently thought to have pulled out of the running for the Royal Bank of Scotland branches up for sale.
Mike Lazenby, chief executive of KRBS, said: 'Our prime responsibility is to act in the best interests of our members and, after considering the options currently available to KRBS, we believe that acquiring external capital is the best way forward.
'Our use of the industrial and provident society route means members can still be members of a mutual.'
KRBS - sponsor of Charlton Athletic Football Club - is Kent's only building society and the 12th largest in the UK - having incorporated mutuals including the Kent and Canterbury.
It had assets of £2.26bn in the year to September 2009 and made profits of £2.26m through the worst of the financial crisis.
Nothing in there about OneSavings, but anyone else think KRBS (Curbs) is slightly better than KRPS (Craps)?!
For Real Savers
on the Goalkeepers kit ?
no it means KRBS will!
Unfortunately not!
What I understand from the article JC Flowers are injecting £50m into a company that they will own 40% of, KRBS will own 60%. This new company will be run by KRBS and will be able to act like a bank, rather than a building society, giving KRBS access to different markets and enabling them to grow a lot faster than they could as "just" a building society. They are keeping the Kent Reliance name and the KRBS brand. What this means for us I think is that we continue as-is but it may put a question mark on KRBS extending their sponsorship when thier current term runs out, but that could have happened regardless of what happened yesterday. What this means for me personally is I won't have to shell out for new kits for the kids next season just because the sponsor has changed. Result!
No need for more new shirts then.