Angostura: Our shares remain unchanged

ANGOSTURA Holdings Ltd has sought to clarify the structure of its shareholdings.

The company was responding to a recent newspaper article (not Newsday) on the ownership and control of shares in the context of a High Court ruling on shares held in trust by CL Financial’s beverage subsidiary for Clico.

In June, Justice Kevin Ramcharan settled the issue relating to four trust deeds. The judge declared that CLF held over 42 million in shares in World Brands Ltd (CLWB), the beverage subsidiary, for its insurance subsidiary. The judge was asked by the joint liquidators of CLF to determine whether it held shares in CLWB on trust for Clico.

In its statement, published in a full-page advertisement in the daily newspapers on Sunday, Angostura said before the court’s ruling, CLF was the sole shareholder in CLWB. The statement said CLWB is the sole shareholder of Rumpro Company Ltd.

“Rumpro directly holds 92,551,212 shares in Angostura which represents a shareholding of approximately 44.97 per cent,” Angostura said.

The statement said the joint liquidators of CLF had asked the court for directions on the trust deeds and the judge ruled that the “shareholding of CLF in CLWB was now split between CLF and Clico with their interests being approximately 58 per cent and 42 per cent respectively.

“CLF remains the controlling shareholder of CL World Brands Ltd,” Angostura’s statement said.

It also said Clico’s direct shareholding in Angostura was currently 5,294,866 shares, which represents a shareholding of approximately 2.57 per cent of Angostura’s total issued shares.

“The direct shareholders of Angostura and their shareholding remain unchanged by the ruling of the High Court,” the statement added.

In its twelfth to the court, for the period March 30, 2023, to October 20, 2023, the joint liquidators provided an update on CLWB.

The report said the liquidators have not appealed the court’s decision and were making arrangements to have CLICO listed on CLWB’s register of members and arrange for payments of various dividends that were safeguarded since their appointment.

On the remaining trust deeds, the report said the liquidators continued to work with parties and their legal advisers to approach the court for similar directions. “These investigations remain challenging, lengthy and extensive due to the significant complexity of the underlying transactions and the vast, historic and widely dispersed nature of supporting documents.”

There is only one trust to be reviewed by them.