Joel Julien
In less than two weeks both the chairman and the chairman of the audit committee at Angostura Ltd (AL) and Angostura Holdings Ltd (AHL) have tendered their resignations.
Maurice Suite resigned as chairman and director of the board at both entities on Monday.
This comes on the heels of Joseph Teixeira who resigned from both entities on March 31.
Angostura was thrust into the national spotlight earlier this week when Finance Minister Colm Imbert signalled the government’s intention to dispose of it “in an orderly fashion.”
“There was never any intention when the Clico bailout began and through the last several years under the last administration that we would nationalise these companies. Republic Bank is a private company, there was never any intention to convert that to a government bank. We already have a government bank, First Citizens, we do not need two government banks in this country. Similarly there was never any intention to make Angostura the state’s rum company, we don’t plan to do that. So that these assets are there they will be disposed of in an orderly fashion, it could be put on the Stock Exchange, it could be sold to institutional investors, large investors may come along and purchase the assets, the original shareholders of Colonial Life the thing may recover to a point where they get the assets back and so on,” Imbert said during an interview with CNC3 earlier this week.
Suite was appointed as director and chairman of the boards of Angostura Ltd and Angostura Holdings Ltd on October 29.
He replaced Yetming who resigned on October 26.
The composition of the AHL board at that date were Suite, Teixeira, Marlon Holder, Krishna Boodhai and Albert George Tom Yew.
The AL board at that date comprised these five and included AL’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Robert Wong and the company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Romesh Singh.
On March 17 Suite signed off AHL’s financial statements ended December 31, 2015.
“The Group has ended the year with profit after tax of $163.7 million, an improvement of $10.3 million against the prior year. Through careful management of expenses and targeted brand investment the Group has maintained profitability in spit of increasing global economic pressures, and is keen to carry these measures forward to 2016,” it stated.
No word on resignations
The Sunday Guardian contacted AL’s executive manager of legal services and company secretary Lyn Lopez for comment on the resignations of Suite and Teixeira and clarification on the quorum needed for the boards but got no response.
Attempts to contact Suite also proved unsuccessful.
Suite is the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Finance.
“Mr Suite has been performing the duties of permanent secretary since February 2004 with the exception of two years when he was attached to the World Bank as a senior advisor in the Office of the Executive Director for Brazil,” the Finance Ministry’s website sated.
“He has served as permanent secretary in both the Economic Management Division and the Investments Division of the Ministry of Finance and the Economy, as well as the Ministries of Education, National Security and the former Ministry of the Arts and Multiculturalism.”