Laurentian Bank has announced plans to take its B2B Trust subsidiary private in a $52 million deal. The bank is offering $9.50 a share for the shares it doesn’t already own.

That represents a 21% premium to the $7.85 B2B shares closed at on Tuesday.

TD Securities, the financial advisor retained by an independent committee of the Laurentian board, says the offer is fair. It says B2B Trust was worth between $8.60 and $9.84 a share.

Laurentian says the decision to take B2B Trust private is predominantly based on the bank’s stated objective of abandoning the “holding company” structure, and on anticipated cost savings to be achieved through the elimination of public company compliance and reporting requirements for B2B Trust.

Laurentian says taking B2B Trust private will save it between $1 million and $2 million annually.

The bank intends to operate B2B Trust as a wholly-owned subsidiary following the amalgamation.

Laurentian currently owns 77.3% of the shares of B2B Trust.

The trust company was formed in 1991 following the merger of Sun Life Trust and Counsel Trust. It was acquired by Laurentian in 2000.