By Barbara Gayle,
Staff Reporter
THE SUPREME Court yesterday gave the Financial Sector Adjustment Company Ltd. (FINSAC) the go ahead to sell Life of Jamaica in which it had completed its take-over last month by capital injection of $2.2 billion.
Mr. Justice Karl Harrison, after hearing submissions in chambers, set aside the 30-day ex parte injunction which Mr. Justice Donald McIntosh had granted to ICWI Investments Ltd. on April 12, barring the sale of the insurance company.
"I hold therefore, that on a totality of the evidence presented by the defendants there was non-disclosure of material facts by the plaintiff. Had these facts been brought to the learned judge's attention, he would in all probabilities have refused to grant the injunction," the judge held.
The judge said it was abundantly clear from the claim and the evidence in support of the injunction that the dispute between the parties was a money claim. He said it was his considered view that damages would be an adequate remedy and the injunction would have to be dissolved in those circumstances.
Two of the prospective LoJ purchasers, Colonial Life Insurance Company Ltd. and Barbados Mutual Assurance Company were named as defendants in the suit but the judge struck out the claim which ICWI Investments had brought against them.
However, attorney-at-law Priya Levers who represents ICWI Investments told The Gleaner yesterday that "ICWI was granted leave to appeal and will be pursuing the appeal because the case is not about Dennis Lalor, it is about a minority shareholder in LoJ whose interest must be protected."
ICWI Investments, of which former LoJ boss Dennis Lalor is chairman, had filed a summons seeking an ex parte injunction on the ground that FINSAC had breached the Securities (Take Over and Merger) Regulations because in receiving and considering the offers for sale of LoJ, it had failed to consult with ICWI Investments and other shareholders, failed to exercise its right of control in good faith and with due regard to the minority rights.
Last month the government announced in Parliament that FINSAC had invited and had recently received bids for the sale of its shareholding in LoJ. Dr. Omar Davies, Minister of Finance said then that "based on the timetable which has been developed, it should be possible to determine the winner of the bid by early May with the sale completed by mid-year."
Colonial Life Insurance Company Ltd., Barbados Mutual Life Assurance Company and First Life Insurance Company Ltd. are bidding for the 140,816,330 ordinary shares in LoJ."
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 has contended 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. The other defendants to the suit were FINSAC, First Life Insurance Company and Life of Jamaica.
