ANOTHER BANK FUSION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19851, 23 January 1928, Page 7

ANOTHER BANK FUSION.

PURCHASE BY MARTINS. MANCHESTER AND LIVERPOOL. Another large banking merger in Eng. land was announced recently when the board of the Bank of Liverpool and Martins, Ltd., notified the proprietors of. a provisional agreement with the Lancashire uud Yorkshire Bank, Ltd., for the transfer of the entire business, goodwill and assots of the latter, with a view to the amalgamation of the two concerns. The Bank of Liverpool and Martins has a capital of £2,348,890, and a general reserve of £2,000,000, the total of its balance-sheet at December 31, 1926, having been £70,540,528. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank's capital is £1.207,872, with a reserve of identical amount, and its balance-sheet total was £26,418,233. The Bank of Liverpool and Martins was established as the Bank of Liverpool in 1831, was registered as a limited company in 1882, and assumed the present title in December, 1918, following amalgamation with Martins Bank as from July 1 of that year. Its head office is in Liverpool. The Lancashire and Yorkshire was established in 1872 to take over the Manchester business of the Alliance Bank. Since that date it has absorbed other banks, notably the Preston Union, West Riding Union and Mercantile of Lancashire. It has extensive connections in the North of England and the Isle of Man, principally in places where Liverpool and Martins is not represented. The official announcement explained that the capital of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank is £1,207,872, consisting of 100,656 shares of £2O each, £l2 paid, and that the reserve fund is equal ju amount to the paid-up capital. As the result of the amalgamation the shareholders of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank will receive for each share in that bank 17 fully-paid shares of £1 each in the Bank of Liverpool i&nd Martins and a cash payment of £1 a share. The profits of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank as from July 1 last (subject to the payment of the usual January dividend) will be transferred to the Bank of Liverpool and Martins, and the new shares issued to the Lancashire and Yorkshire shareholders will rank for dividend as from January, 1, Lord Cohvyn, the chairman, and Mr. Alfred Watkin, the deputy-chairman, of the Lancashire and Yorkshire, are to join the general board of the Bank of Liverpool and Martins, Lord Colwyn to take the position of a deputy-chairman. The directors propose that the title of the combined banks should be Martins Bank, Ltd. The head office will remain in Liverpool. To give effect to the terms of amalgamation, they recommend that the authorised capital should be increased. by the creation of 1,500,000 £1 shares, making a total of 1,900,000 shares available for issue now of in the future.