POB.L Regulatory News (POB)

6 Mar 2006 07:02

Portman Building Society06 March 2006 PRESS RELEASE Lambeth Building Society announces decision to merge with Portman Building Society The Directors of Lambeth and Portman Building Societies today announced thatthey have agreed to a merger. Subject to approval by members of Lambeth, andconfirmation by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), this is expected to beeffective on 30th September 2006. Although some details are still to be finalised, the key points are: • The enlarged building society will remain a mutual, owned by its members,and will be named Portman Building Society. • Lambeth and Portman operations are geographically complementary. Themerger will significantly improve the distribution of products and services tomembers of Lambeth. • Under the proposed merger, Robert Sharpe, Chief Executive of PortmanBuilding Society will be Chief Executive of the enlarged society. RichardVaughan, Chairman of Lambeth Building Society will join the Portman Board. • A local board will be established, comprising the existing non-executiveDirectors of Lambeth Building Society and the Chief Executive of Portman. Thelocal board's primary function will be to oversee integration. Chris Radford,Chief Executive of Lambeth Building Society, will be appointed Director ofIntegration. • There will be no compulsory redundancies within the branch network as adirect result of the merger. Portman will also offer jobs to all Lambeth's headoffice staff at Portman's main offices in Bournemouth or Wolverhampton, togetherwith relocation benefits. Those head office staff unable to make a move toeither of these locations will receive generous redundancy compensation.Lambeth's head office is expected to close by 30 June 2007. • The majority of Lambeth's branches will be incorporated into Portman'snetwork to enhance the service offered to members of the enlarged society. Thebranches at Ashford, Brixton, Orpington, Sutton, Tonbridge and Upminster will beretained. To avoid local overlap, Lambeth's branches in Bromley and Woking,where Portman already has established branches, will be closed and the headoffice branch at Westminster Bridge Road will be relocated if suitablealternative premises can be found in the local vicinity. • A merger bonus will be paid to qualifying borrowers and savers of LambethBuilding Society. Each eligible member of Lambeth is expected to receive ataxable merger bonus of at least £400, although details are yet to be finalised. Commenting on the proposed merger Chris Radford, Chief Executive of Lambeth said"This is an exciting and important decision for Lambeth Building Society whichwe believe allows our members to continue to benefit over the long term fromcompetitive products supported by excellent service and a wider branch networkin the South of England. Lambeth is a sound business, with excellent staff and astrong balance sheet. We believe that the proposed merger with Portman can onlyincrease our competitiveness in the market and allow our members to benefit frommarket-leading products and services." Robert Sharpe, Chief Executive of Portman commented: "We are delighted thatLambeth has chosen Portman as its merger partner. Whilst there is no doubt thatsmall and medium-sized building societies are able to trade profitably, we alloperate in an increasingly challenging market environment. The growing costs ofregulation, the requirements of Basel II and the expenditure needed to invest inever more sophisticated technology together make a compelling case for thismerger. Members of both societies can, in our view, only benefit from this merger. Theenlarged society's economies of scale and wider distribution will generatetangible benefits in terms of products and pricing." - Ends - Editors Notes It is expected that eligible savers and borrowers of Lambeth will receive fulldetails of the proposed merger towards the end of April together with details ofthe merger bonus arrangements. Bonus payments to eligible savers will be basedon the lower of account balances at the close of business on 31 January 2006 anda future date which will be disclosed in the merger booklet. A minimum savingsbalance as at 31 January 2006 of £100 will be one of the requirements. Detailsof the merger bonus for eligible borrowers will be disclosed in the mergerbooklet, but a minimum mortgage balance at 31 January 2006 of £100 will be oneof the requirements. Payment of the merger bonuses is dependent upon theapproval of the merger by Lambeth's members and confirmation of the merger bythe FSA. About Portman Portman is the third largest UK building society and 13th largest UK mortgagelender. In the five years since 2000, Portman has more than doubled in size.During this period Portman was the fastest growing top ten building society interms of total assets. The Group has total assets of £17.8 billion and employs over 2,300 staff,serving 1.8 million members. The Society has a network of 143 branches. Its Head Office is in Bournemouth,Dorset and it has an administration centre based in the West Midlands. Readers requiring further information about any of the products or servicesoffered by Portman Building Society should visit their local Portman branch orcall 0845 60 90 600. Details are available at www.Portman.co.uk. About Lambeth Lambeth is currently the 20th largest building society in the UK, with assets of£1 billion. Based in the south of London, Lambeth Building Society has 9branches and currently employees around 130 staff. In the past 5 years, Lambethhas focussed on providing a range of competitive mortgage and investmentproducts and during this time has almost doubled its assets. Members requiring further information about this proposed merger, should call0845 6000913. For further information, please contact: For Portman Building Society Helen Shaw, Group Communications Manager 01202 562256 / 07887 830123Robert Sharpe, Chief Executive 01202 563602 / 07887 830011 For Lambeth Building Society Laura O'ConnellDirector, Wriglesworth Consultancy 020 7845 7900 / 07887 737463 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange