(Trinidad Guardian) Lawrence Duprey, the former chairman of CL Financial (CLF) and the Colonial Life Insurance Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Clico), has died at 89. In the last year, as his health deteriorated, he moved back to T&T from Miami with his wife, Sylvia. He died at a health facility in Port-of-Spain yesterday evening.
When he returned to Trinidad, former Clico agent and former mayor of San Fernando Ian Atherly hosted a welcome home party with former agents last June at his establishment, Atherlys By The Park Restaurant.
Atherly described him as a “giant of a man” who had spent the last 15 years of his life fighting to regain some element of the billion-dollar empire he had built. “He died a lonely man,” he said.
He said it was bittersweet for Duprey that all the companies and ventures he had embarked on had turned around and were now profitable; the State adequately compensated for its liquidity injection, but CLF remained in liquidation, with the conglomerate now dismantled and sold off in pieces.
Duprey remains the largest shareholder of CLF, but with the company in liquidation, it would be the last to get anything from earnings. In January 2009, when Duprey approached the Government cap-in-hand, the Government immediately stepped in to curb any systemic risk to the country’s financial state. The attractive interest rates had attracted over 25,000 people to invest billions, and Clico’s breadth had stretched from credit unions to prime state enterprises to owing millions to local banks.
Duprey had described his empire, which comprised some 65 companies in 32 countries, as being caught up in a perfect storm of economic collapse. But the Government also had to inject sums to top up the starved Statutory Fund and meet the requirements of policyholders who had opted out of business with Clico.
In turn, the assets of CLF were used as security for the injection. The majority of the Government’s $30 billion bailout was spent on paying back policyholders of Clico and British American’s Executive Flexible Premium Annuity (EFPA), which was a facility created by Clico to raise money and bore an above-market, annual interest rate of ten per cent.
Entrepreneurial
A Commission of Enquiry (CoE) into the collapse of Clico and related subsidiaries, as well as the Hindu Credit Union, was initiated by the State. The revelations at the commission were startling—million-dollar salaries paid to executives, companies created by executives and hiving off millions in contracts, and blatant breaches in governance—at the expense of policyholders.
Clico was an insurance company formed by Cyril Duprey in 1936. The reins were subsequently passed on to his nephew Lawrence in 1988, who grew the company into the conglomerate CLF.
The tale of how Clico came to be and the inner workings of this private company have been brought out in various witness statements during the 18-month-long CoE. Former CIB chairman Mervyn Assam told the enquiry that Duprey was the opposite of his frugal uncle after he inherited the company.
“He is very entrepreneurial and not at all risk-averse. He has a reputation for being able to see an opportunity and go after it. He always saw things on a big scale and had the idea that was how companies in Europe, the United States, and Canada were able to develop from small to medium to large to become transnational companies,” Assam told the CoE. Duprey expanded Clico to the Clico Investment Bank and created the umbrella company, CL Financial. It was CIB that funded investments into the energy and beverage business.
In his witness statement, former group financial director Michael Carballo described Duprey as a “very persuasive, very logical man” and the ultimate deal-maker. “When it came to decisions, commercial decisions, who had the ultimate authority to approve or say no?” lead counsel for the enquiry, British Queen’s Counsel Peter Carter asked Carballo.
“He has that strength about him—very persuasive, able to persuade a board,” Carballo has said. Carballo has said Duprey’s insistence on the acquisition of Lascelles de Mercado, a US$750 million Jamaican acquisition, was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
By then, Clico and British American, aided by CLF, had long since expanded beyond the remit of any insurance company, with expensive real estate investments in Florida costing hundreds of millions. Its top players were politically aligned: Duprey’s adviser Carlos John became a Works Minister under the United National Congress Government, while his former financial group head Andre Monteil was the PNM’s party treasurer.
For his part, Duprey has blamed the failure of Clico on the people he tasked with managing it. In an interview in 2017, Duprey said he felt he was duped into disposing the company’s assets in January 2009. The Government had managed the CLF conglomerate through a shareholder agreement originally signed in June 2009, but Duprey had said he was coerced into agreeing to the situation in the first place. He blamed politics for how he eventually lost control of it.
In his witness statement provided to the Commission of Enquiry in October 2012, he said, “The global collapse coinciding with an ever-impossible revamp of the regulatory framework and a refusal of Government-owned entities to back the group after all the years of benefit that they had received from the interest income that the group had generated led to the need for some ultimate government support.
“I would have preferred, as I deal with further on in this statement, that the intervention had not been so politically motivated and had been directed at protection, for I believe had that been the position we would have fared a great deal better. Losing all the intellectual capital as a condition of intervention was a bad decision and was not one replicated in the USA or the UK.
“It is of note in this regard that I was firm of the view in January 2009 that the run on CIB and the resultant liquidity or cash flow issues were much inspired by the decision of State-owned or run entities making decisions at or about the same time to withdraw rolling deposits that had been previously rolled from maturity to maturity without question. The decision to seek funds back came in reality out of the blue and caused severe problems.”
Tributes for a visionary
Former planning minister and former CLF director Dr Bhoe Tewarie: “The loss of the Duprey Empire and Lawrence Duprey’s lonely end makes his passing very sad. He helped a lot of people in his lifetime and had a charitable heart. My condolences go out to Sylvia and his son, and to his genuine friends and family. He was a very complicated man with very big ideas, and he loved Trinidad and Tobago but understood its limitations, and he tried to find ways of circumventing them.
“He made business mistakes and miscalculations, and some took advantage of his trust. These inevitably took a toll. But he also took big, calculated risks, which paid off and made a difference to this country. He was brave enough to create an international partnership that brought the first private-sector investment in methanol here. Angostura was a good acquisition.
“After the war, initially, he listened to advice and made peace with the republic, which was a good decision for a good investment. But his appetite for high risk brought him down when forces converged beginning in 2008 to trigger a global financial crisis, a severe fall in energy prices, and a real estate crash simultaneously. He was too heavily invested in all three, and he had leveraged too many assets and was too heavily in debt. “Clico as a company had cornered itself because it was leveraged to finance everything. By doing so, it put people’s savings, insurance policies, and pensions at risk to finance a range of investments that were not contributing to revenue, cash flow, or profits. Lawrence Duprey acknowledged good advice and caution, but the culture of his executive team could be reckless and unbridled, and good advice was not sufficient to rein Lawrence Duprey in.
“Personalities were more powerful than institutions within the company. And oversight institutions in the country did not play their mandated roles on behalf of the State with the timely and effective vigilance and sense of responsibility that was required either.
“He was reckless in politics too, and that ultimately meant that he became politically vulnerable in a vindictive culture. He never was an insider in T&T’s business elite circles either. Such things turned out to be costly. In a way, even in his most successful days, he was a loner. He was a good entrepreneur, and he dreamt big. But organisations need more than successful entrepreneurs and big dreams to make them sustainable.
“He was a colourful, almost mythical figure in his best days. A lot of people will remember his goodwill and generosity. May his soul rest in eternal peace.”
Former finance minister Winston Dookeran, under whose tenure the Clico Investment Fund (CIF) was born: “As we mourn the loss of Lawrence Duprey, we must be humbled, for he was indeed, perhaps the most visionary entrepreneur of our times. He was able to ‘idle’ resources into national prosperity, for which he faced obstacles and for which the T&T economy continues to benefit—it was the pillar of our success in building a diversified structure.
“Indeed, a strategic thinker and a true patriot, Lawrence Duprey’s legacy will be hard to surpass. T&T owes him a huge debt of gratitude, and I hope he will be so honoured by our nation.”
Gabriel Faria, former chief executive of Angostura and former chief executive of the T&T Chamber: “Lawrence Duprey was an extraordinary individual, whose journey was marked by remarkable achievements, resilience in the face of adversity, and an indomitable spirit that inspired us all. Lawrence was not just a business magnate; he was a visionary who saw possibilities where others saw obstacles. He built a business empire that transformed industries and our country and touched countless lives. His innovative ideas and fearless pursuit of excellence set new standards in the business world, earning him respect and admiration from peers and competitors alike.
“But Lawrence’s story was not without its challenges. He faced difficult times and experienced significant losses. Yet, even in the darkest moments, he remained steadfast and resilient. He taught us that true success is not measured by wealth alone but by the courage to rise after a fall and the wisdom to learn from every experience. He never lost sight of what truly mattered. He was a devoted family man and a loyal friend, and he created many millionaires, some may say even billionaires.
“Lawrence’s legacy is not just in the businesses he built but in the lives he touched and the inspiration he provided to aspiring entrepreneurs. He showed us that vision, perseverance, and integrity are the cornerstones of a meaningful life. I will remember him not only for his successes but also for his unwavering spirit and the love he shared with those around him. May his memory continue to inspire us to dream big, act boldly, and live with purpose.”
Former CL executive Carlos John: “Well, to me, he was an outstanding industrialist and a giant of a man. A true patriot. As well as a great philanthropist.”
Former CLF director Michael Carballo: “He was a one-of-a-kind entrepreneur. Had a very good heart. Wanted the best for the country. A risk-taker of sorts but truly a good person and businessman.