Stakeholders will need to wait at least another month to know whether the takeover offer by NCB Financial Group for Guardian Holdings Limited (GHL) of Trinidad will be finalised or reset.
“We are committed to participating in the hearing and providing all the necessary information required to the Trinidad & Tobago Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to complete its review of the offer. Once the matter is resolved, we will be in a position to comment on how we will proceed in relation to the transaction,” stated Jacqueline DeLisser, head, group investor relations, performance monitoring & planning at NCB Financial Group, in response to Financial Gleaner queries.
Her statement follows a Monday afternoon hearing at the SEC headquarters in Trinidad in which parties were asked to submit legal positions by mid-March.
“In other words, it was about the SEC giving directions and setting dates for the substantive hearing which is scheduled to take place at 1.30 p.m. on March 26, 2018,” said Peter Permell, a GHL minority shareholder in a Financial Gleaner interview on Tuesday. Permell is at the centre of the debacle, having raised legal concerns about the pricing of the offer from its initial December announcement.
“What, in my opinion, was significant about yesterday? It was the SEC’s statement to NCBFG’s attorney, Mr Walker that the SEC is of the view that a prima facie case has been made out against NCBFG in this matter,” asserted Permell.
Last Friday, NCBFG announced that the offer had “lapsed”, even though the take-up went beyond the target.
The Jamaican banking group, which bid for the GHL shares though NCB Global Holdings, received acceptances from 535 owners of 91.74 million shares, well clear of the 74 million shares targeted in the offer … NCB said none of the shares deposited up to the February 23 close of the bid have been taken up by the offeror.
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