LoJ shares transferred to Accountant General

Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

THE LIFE of Jamaica shares (LoJ) have been transferred to the Accountant General but the state-owned Financial Sector Adjustment Company Ltd. (FINSAC) will continue to act as agents for the sale.

The disclosure was made in the Supreme Court last week Thursday when FINSAC withdrew a summons it had filed seeking leave to intervene and be joined as a defendant to the suit which ICWI Investments Ltd. has brought against prospective purchasers of LoJ.

Attorney Patrick McDonald, who is FINSAC's corporate operations executive, told Sunday Business on Thursday that instead of FINSAC being the vehicle holding the shares for the Government, the Accountant General was now doing so. FINSAC will continue to act as agents for the sale. The shares were transferred on May 2.

He said that the Jamaica Stock Exchange and the Securities Commission had approved the transfer of the shares because there was no change in the beneficial owner which was the Government of Jamaica.

However, Mr. McDonald said that no final agreement had been reached in regards to the sale of the shares and they were still negotiating.

ICWI Investments Ltd., of which former Life of Jamaica boss, Dennis Lalor is chairman had obtained a Supreme Court order on April 24 this year barring any move by the Government to sell 140,816,330 ordinary shares in LoJ without first complying with the option granted to ICWI Investments by an agreement between FINSAC and LoJ on May 21, 1997. It has also accused FINSAC of breaching the Securities (Take Over and Merger) Regulations because in receiving and considering the offers for the sale of LoJ, it had failed to consult with ICWI Investments and other shareholders.

FINSAC applied to the Supreme Court in May to set aside the injunction barring the sale and the application was granted.

Barbados Mutual Life Assur-ance Company, one of the prospective purchasers of LoJ, had brought a summons on Thursday to strike out the suit filed by ICWI Investments but Justice Donald McIntosh dismissed the summons. Costs were awarded to ICWI Investments which was represented by attorneys Dr. Lloyd Barnett and Priya Levers.

Dr. Omar Davies, Minister of Finance, announced in Parliament in April this year that FINSAC had invited and had recently received bids for the sale of its shareholding in LoJ. He said that based on the timetable which had been developed, it should be possible to determine the winner of the bid by early May with the sale completed by mid-year.

FINSAC completed its take-over of LoJ in April this year by a capital injection of $2.2 billion.

Mr. Lalor and FINSAC are now engaged in a legal battle in the Supreme Court. Mr. Lalor has sued FINSAC to recover $31 million in compensation for his services as executive chairman of LoJ as well as pension benefits.

FINSAC is contending that Mr. Lalor is not entitled to any benefits and has filed a counter-claim accusing Mr. Lalor and his wife of inducing LoJ to pay a service provider agreement of $8.5 million annually to Mr. Lalor.

Back to Business