(Trinidad Guardian) Finance Minister Colm Imbert said on Monday that Clico addressed its obligation to repay its remaining liability of TT$1 billion to the Government in 2023, by selling all of its shareholding in Methanol Holdings International Ltd (MHIL) .
Clico received a multibillion dollar bailout in 2009, which eventually totalled over TT$18 billion.
In the Senate on Monday, Opposition Senator Wade Mark posed the question, “Can the minister provide the details and status of the sale of Clico’s 56.53 per cent shareholding in MHIL to the Proman Group in late December, 2023?”.
In response the Finance Minister said, “The information and answer to this question has been in the public domain for almost one year, and the matter has already been extensively addressed inside and outside of the Parliament. It is therefore curious that Senator Mark continues to beat this dead horse. The facts already in the public domain are as follows—as of April 2023, Clico’s remaining liability to the government for the Clico bailout was $1 billion.
“In addition, Clico had a statutory obligation under the Insurance Act 2018 to reduce its interest in MHIL to less than 20 per cent. In July of 2023 the other shareholder in MHIL, Consolidated Energy, approached Clico to acquire the full 56.53 per cent of Clico’s interest in MHIL. A sale price of US$337 million for the shares was agreed based on a valuation done by an independent and reputable global valuation consultant, Charles Rivers Associates, plus an additional US$10 million as Clico’s share of dividends for 2023. All issues were thus satisfactorily addressed: Clico’s satisfaction of its obligation under the Insurance Act 2018, with respect to its shareholding in MHIL being reduced to less than 20 per cent; and Clico’s obligation to repay the government the $1 billion that was still owed in 2023.”
The opposition senator then followed up his question with an inquiry, “When did the Government receive the outstanding $1 billion owed by Clico to the taxpayers of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to settle its final outstanding debt obligations to the citizenry?”
To which the Minister replied, “In 2023.”
When the opposition senator asked for a specific month that the debt was settled, Minister Imbert responded, “When I come to this place, I have to expect strange questions from Senator Mark. That was not part of the question. All Senator Mark complained about was the sale of MHIL shares by Clico. He said nothing about any debt owed by Clico to the government. Then it is therefore absurd to expect you to walk with that date.”
On December 27, 2023 the Trinidad Guardian reported that Clico sold its entire 56.53 per cent stake in MHIL, which is located in Oman, to the Switzerland-based Proman Group on December 22, 2023 for the sum of US$347 million ($2.35 billion).
In its 2023 audited financials, Clico reported that the sale of the subsidiary MHIL was completed on December 22, 2023. Partly as a result of the sale of MHIL, Clico reported $3.18 billion in accumulated surplus as at December 31, 2023. The 2023 financials also disclose that the insurance company recorded $2.30 billion in profit attributable to the owners of the company. Clico is 49 per cent owned by Corporation Sole, who holds assets on behalf of the population. Its other major shareholder is CL Financial, which is in liquidation, with 51 per cent.
