Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told reporters Thursday that National Bank’s $5-billion deal for Canadian Western Bank is a vote of confidence in the bank and in Western Canadaremains headquartered in Alberta rather than have its corporate tax base shift to Quebec with a purchase by National Bank of Canadais a vote of confidence in the bank and in Western Canada, and she is counting on the bank to continue its strong support for Alberta energy projects.
National Bank plans to increase banking services in Western Canada, maintain CWB’s headquarters in Edmonton, and add two of its directors to the Montreal-based lender’s board, National Bank’s chief executive officer Laurent Ferreira said during a conference call late Tuesday. Those attempted takeovers would have consolidated most of Canada’s five biggest banks, significantly reshaping the country’s financial sector. In the case of National Bank and CWB, the deal brings together two regional banks that operate in different parts of the country and have a sliver of the market capitalization of their larger peers.
During a conference call Tuesday, Mr. Ferreira said that the two banks have “little to no” existing overlap between their key businesses. CWB’s stock soared 68 per cent to close at $41.89 on Wednesday in Toronto, but remained below National Bank’s offer of $52.24 per share. National Bank’s share price slumped 5.9 per cent.