On Tuesday, I received a four-page, 4,000- word letter addressed to the CEO of the Energy Chamber Dr Dax Driver (whose parents named him Thackwray) on the issue of the implications of a group of foreign investors, operating through an investment vehicle named Consolidated Energy, gaining control of Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Ltd (MHTL) and its Oman-based sister company.
The letter, which was written by Concerned and Patriotic Trinidadians working in the Energy Sector, outlined how Proman–the largest shareholder in Consolidated Energy– has developed into one of T&T's single most powerful and influential investors. According to the letter, Proman is a significant shareholder in MHTL, by virtue of its position as the largest shareholder in Consolidated Energy, which owns about 44 per cent of MHTL.
Proman is also the majority shareholder in Industrial Plant Services Ltd (IPSL), the T&T company that operates and maintains the five MHTL plans, the seven-plant AUM complex and two ammonia plants. As a result of its acquisition of 51 per cent of a company formerly known as Clico Energy, Proman is also a significant shareholder in the ammonia plants, Caribbean Nitrogen and Nitrogen 2000.
Former CL Financial executive chairman Lawrence Duprey sold Clico Energy three or four days after he signed the Memorandum of Understanding on January 30, 2009 in circumstances that have always been controversial and are supposed to be the subject of litigation by the Government.