The transaction brings together a combined business with about $29 billion in assets, establishing a banking and wealth management platform spanning international financial centers and high-growth Caribbean markets.

Coordinated across 19 jurisdictions, the transaction is expected to significantly expand Butterfield and Barbados-based CIBC Caribbean's offering across their combined client base, including cross-border payments, consumer and merchant banking services, and digital banking infrastructure.

Butterfield’s chairman and chief executive officer Michael Collins described the deal as a strategic move that combines two storied and complimentary banks with deep regional ties and strong customer relationships. “Since Butterfields listing on the New York Stock Exchange we have successfully grown and enhanced profitability through bank and trust acquisitions,” Collins said in a statement.

Carey Olsen Bermuda partners Alexander Collis and Michelle Falcucci led the transaction, advising in the offshore market and taking on a role typically associated with lead onshore counsel.

"This is a landmark transaction not just for Butterfield, but for the offshore legal market. Delivering a deal of this scale across 19 jurisdictions, alongside Sullivan & Cromwell, demonstrates that Carey Olsen Bermuda is at the forefront of complex, cross-border M&A,” Collis said.

"Acting as joint lead counsel with Sullivan & Cromwell on a transaction of this scale and complexity requires not only multi-jurisdictional coordination, but a detailed understanding of how regulatory, transactional and structuring considerations intersect in practice,” Falcucci added.

Carey Olsen is an offshore law firm advising financial institutions, corporations and private clients on the laws of Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey and Jersey from a network of nine international offices.