Mar 2008 Financial News

NIB Board meet today on RBTT deal

Mar 25, 2008

DIRECTORS OF the National Insurance Board (NIB) have agreed to vote for the sale of the RBTT Financial Holdings Group to the Royal Bank of Canada, at tomorrow’s special shareholders meeting at Hilton Trinidad, St Ann’s.

Industry sources told Newsday yesterday that agreement came only after Board members consisting of government, private sector and labour representatives agreed to set up long term investment portfolios that would maintain the kind of returns, had the Group not been sold.

NIB has a 20 percent shareholding in RBTT.

Newsday also understands that the NIB Board is to meet today to finalise key tenets of their agreement.

While the NIB Board has reached consensus, members of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions and NGOs (Fitun) remain bitterly opposed to the sale of RBTT to RBC.

Fitun president, David Abdulah maintains that RBTT “ought not be sold” to RBC, as such a move will be a severe blow to the country’s development.

Abdulah has maintained that “we can’t build the CSME (Caricom Single Market and Economy) without locally and regionally owned firms.”

He said that RBTT shares represent 12 percent of the total capitalisation of the market and 20 percent of the financial services sector, which represents 55 percent of the stock market.

“The loss of RBTT from the stock exchange will in effect wipe out one fifth or more of the investment options available,” Abdulah said.


Source:
Roxanne Stapleton-Whyms
Newsday, Page 7
Tuesday, March 25 2008

http://www.newsday.co.tt/business/0,75658.html