No to CLICO

CONSUMERS GUARANTEE INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED (CGI) will not be buying CLICO International General Insurance Limited (CIG) after all.The NATION understands that top management of CIG’s parent company, CLICO Holdings Barbados Limited, received an official letter today from CGI informing the company that they would be “withdrawing their offer” with respect to the purchase arrangement.When contacted a senior executive source at CGI confirmed that the company had “officially pulled out” of the purchase arrangement with CIG. The source refused to comment further on the reasons behind the withdrawal.CLICO Holdings Barbados Limited’s executive chairman Leroy Parris declined to comment on CGI’s move.This latest development comes just three weeks after permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance and chairman of the Oversight Committee set up to manage the sale of CIG, William Layne, stated that “a sale agreement has been concluded with Consumers Guarantee Insurance for the sale of CIG”.The Oversight Committee is also seeking to sell another subsidiary, CLICO Mortgage and Finance Corporation (CMFC), to the Barbados Public Workers’ Co-operative Credit Union Ltd (BPWCCU). Anthony Griffin, president of the BPWCCU disclosed in March that its purchase of CMFC was imminent. Efforts so far to attract a buyer for a third subsidiary, CLICO International Life Insurance Limited (CIL), have been futile because of the company’s liquidity problems and the deficit in its Statutory Fund.The Government-backed Oversight Committee has another 19 months to sell CIL before a $300 million demand on the company is due.That’s because the bulk of CLICO Life’s Executive Flexible Premium Annuities (EFPAs) – which promised high interest rates on deposits – become due in 2012.In March Layne said if the Oversight Committee failed to find a buyer for CIL by 2012, they would have to sell CLICO’s assets.CLICO has been at the centre of a financial firestorm over the past 15 months, following the near collapse of its parent company in Trinidad and Tobago, CL Financial.CLICO, believed to have over $1 billion in assets, has already paid out over $118 million to policyholders.•wadegibbons@nationnews.com