Incorporated in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), Republic Bank Limited (Republic or the bank) has a long and profitable history of banking in the Caribbean. Created in 1837, under the then name of Colonial Bank, the bank has gone through a number of stages of development before reaching its current incarnation. In the 1920’s the bank came under the ownership of Barclay’s Bank but returned to local ownership in 1977 and took the current name of Republic Bank Limited. Republic has ten operating subsidiaries and three associated companies. Republic has a strong and experienced management team with a proven track record. Highly profitable, the bank has on average doubled profits every 4 years in the period since 1971 leading to an average ROI (return on investment) during the period of approximately 40%. The bank’s market capitalization is $1.0 billion or approximately two times book value. As at fiscal year end September 30, 2002, the group had $3.1 billion equivalent in total assets and $496 million in total equity. As at the same period, Republic’s return on average assets and return on average equity were 2.43% and 17.3% respectively. The bank’s risk weighted capital adequacy ratio was 18.02%. The project is to provide up to $50 million to Republic to help finance the privatization of Barbados National Bank (BNB). Republic has received the approval of the Government of Barbados to purchase a minimum 57% shareholding in BNB. Currently, BNB is 77% owned by the Government of Barbados, 10% owned by the National Insurance Board (another public sector agency), and 13% publicly held. The public sector will maintain a shareholding of approximately 30% following the privatization of BNB.