Asha Javeed
Lead Editor Investigations
asha.javeed@guardian.co.tt
The Point Lisas Industrial Port Development Corporation (Plipdeco) expects to pay a $37,000 fine to the Trinidad and Tobago Securities and Exchange Commission (TTSEC) for breaching section 64 of the Securities Act 2012, when it made changes to its executive management, but failed to notify the securities regulator, or the public, in a timely manner.
The Plipdeco board, which is chaired by Daniel Dookie, placed its president Ashley Taylor on administrative leave on July 27 and appointed Averne Pantin, its vice president of technical services, as acting president.
Since then, an internal investigation was launched into contracts negotiated during his 16-year tenure at Plipdeco.
In an exclusive report on September 1, the Sunday Guardian noted that no notice of Taylor’s administrative leave was filed with the TTSEC, as Plipdeco is required to do in accordance with the Securities Act.
The act requires reporting issuers to file notices of material change with the TTSEC within three days of the occurrence and publish material change notices in two daily newspapers within seven days of the occurrence.
In a notice by the board to shareholders, published in daily newspapers yesterday, Plipdeco noted that pursuant to Section 64 (1)(b) of the Act, it was advising that Taylor had been placed on administrative leave.
Plipdeco announced on July 9 that its annual meeting scheduled for July 11, would be moved to a date in September. The new date has not yet been announced.
On September 1, Guardian Media reported that Taylor’s administrative leave came three months before he was due to retire and stemmed from the terms of a lease agreement with TT Iron Steel Company (TT Iron). TT Iron acquired the defunct Arcelor Mittal steel plant (which was in liquidation since 2016) in Point Lisas in July with Plipdeco as its landlord.
Mittal had incurred close to $44 million in rent outstanding to Plipdeco at the time of its closure, and by acquiring the plant, TT Iron would have inherited the debt.
Guardian Media reported that Taylor negotiated the initial terms of the lease, by which TT Iron would have operated for its first three years lease-free.
However, when the board raised issues with those terms, it was renegotiated to six months rent-free. As part of the initial payment from the liquidator to Plipdeco, the terms were that $22 million was paid upfront, with the remainder of $22 million to be paid in January 2025.
Plipdeco is a publicly traded entity with the State, through Corporation Sole, owning 51 per cent of the company.
According to its annual report, the other nine shareholders with the largest block of shares are Masa Investments Ltd (7.6 per cent), Chan Ramlal (6.67 per cent), and Tatil Life Assurance Ltd (2.84 per cent). Bourse Nominee Account Co (2.53 per cent), Atlantic Investments Company (2.52 per cent), Republic Bank Ltd (2.48 per cent), Riyad Khan (1.49 per cent), Olympic Manufacturing (1.26 per cent), and George Aboud and Sons Ltd (1.22 per cent).
For the six months ended June 30, 2024, Plipdeco declared profit after tax of $41.30 million, which was a 22 per cent improvement compared with the $33.83 million the company reported for the first six month of 2023. The company’s revenue for the period January 1 to June 30, 2024 was $185.30 million, 6.2 per cent higher than for the same period in 2023.
Getting it right:
On Thursday September 12, the Guardian published a story on page 15 headlined 'TTSEC fines Plipdeco for breach of disclosure requirement,' in which the newspaper reported that Point Lisas Industrial Port Development Company (Plipdeco) had paid a fine of $37,000 for contravening section 64 of the Securities Act.
The Trinidad and Tobago Securities and Exchange Commission (TTSEC) has clarified that no fine has been paid by the company to date.
