MPA provided a Fairness Opinion to the Board of SaskCentral on the sale of its majority stake in Concentra Bank to Equitable Bank for $470 million

Overview

• On February 7, 2022 SaskCentral and Equitable Bank (a wholly-owned subsidiary of TSX-listed Equitable Group) jointly announced a strategic transaction whereby Equitable Bank would acquire 100% of Concentra Bank
• The purchase price of 84% of Book Value of Concentra (at closing date), plus $30 million
• In addition to being the controlling shareholder of Concentra, SaskCentral is the liquidity manager and key consulting service supplier for Saskatchewan’s credit unions
• Concentra Bank is a Schedule 1 Chartered Bank with $11.8 billion of assets as at November 30, 2021 and is the 13th largest Schedule 1 Bank in Canada
• Concentra Bank is owned 84% by SaskCentral and 16% by certain minority shareholders

MPA’s Role and Key Considerations for the Board of SaskCentral

• The Board of SaskCentral formed a committee, the Transaction Oversight Committee, to oversee the execution of the proposed Transaction on their behalf
• Morrison Park was engaged by the Board, under the direction of the Transaction Oversight Committee, to provide a fairness opinion regarding the consideration to be paid to SaskCentral under the proposed Transaction
• SaskCentral engaged a financial and legal advisors to run a conventional sale process
• The Board relied upon MPA’s independent opinion and advice in its evaluation of the fairness of the transaction, from a financial point of view, to SaskCentral

MPA’s Experience and Expertise Assisted the Board in Fulfilling its Fiduciary Duties

• MPA is an independent, partner-owned firm not affected by conflicting business lines i.e. bank-owned dealers and full-service independent firms were conflicted in this situation
• Deep experience and expertise in advising financial institutions
• Fixed-fee fairness opinion (not dependent on transaction outcome) entailed an unbiased, objective opinion from MPA upon which the Board could rely