Somers Ltd has terminated the agreement to sell Bermuda Commercial Bank to Permanent Capital Holdings Ltd after it received better offers.

The financial-services holding company said in a filing with the Bermuda Stock Exchange yesterday: “Somers confirms that it has recently received indicative offers for BCB from multiple parties which the board of Somers has determined are superior to the transaction with Permanent.

“Somers has therefore terminated its agreement with Permanent for the sale of BCB.”

Alasdair Younie, a Somers director, said yesterday that he was not at liberty to reveal which other parties had expressed an interest in acquiring the bank, or how many offers had been made for BCB.

He added that Somers was working through multiple offers, “so as to be able to move ahead with the transaction”.

Somers agreed last year to sell BCB to New York-based investment company Permanent Capital and in February this year the deal received necessary approvals from regulators.

In March, Somers announced the deal had been delayed amid extreme volatility on financial markets. In its first-quarter earnings statement in May, Somers said it had hoped to complete the deal this year.