Barbados based Sagicor Life Inc has acquired the assets Colonial Life Insurance Company (Trinidad) Limited (Clico) and British American Insurance Company Trinidad Limited (BAT) for an undisclosed sum of money.
Both Clico and BAT were previously part of the failed CL Financial and was taken over by the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago following the collapse and bail out of CL Financial.
According to the Central Bank media release yesterday, since 2009, Clico and BAT have been under the control of the Central Bank of T&T and a resolution strategy with several phases was developed to stabilise the activities of the institutions.
“A key component of the resolution strategy included the sale of the traditional portfolios of BAT and Clico to a suitable purchaser at prices consistent with independent valuations. Following a transparent, competitive and rigorous bidding process conducted by Clico/BAT with Central Bank oversight, Sagicor was selected as the preferred purchaser. Agreements for the transfer of their respective traditional insurance portfolios to Sagicor were executed today by Clico and BAT,” the Central Bank said.
According to the Central Bank, in accordance with the Insurance Act Chap 84:01, Schemes of Transfer are required before the sale can be completed.
“Sagicor will prepare the Schemes of Transfer in respect of the Clico and BAT policies for regulatory approvals. The entire transfer process is anticipated to take several months during which time Clico and BAT will continue to administer their respective portfolios until the Schemes of Transfer are confirmed.
“Consistent with the objectives of the resolution strategy, the intended transfer of the traditional insurance portfolios to Sagicor is aimed at safeguarding policyholders’ interests and assuring continued financial stability in T&T.”
According to a media release from Sagicor Life Inc, Dodridge Miller, Group President and CEO, Sagicor, said: “We are pleased to welcome the policyholders to the Sagicor family and assure them of the same level of protection and service that our existing policyholders enjoy upon the completion.”
Claire Gomez-Miller, Clico’s Executive Chairman and BAT’s Chairman, said: “Sagicor emerged as the preferred buyer in an open and very competitive tender process with guidance from independent global industry experts.”
In March, Finance Minister, Colm Imbert had said that he was reviewing offers for Clico from two insurance groups—Sagicor and Maritime.
Speaking to the media at his office at the Eric Williams Financial Complex, Port-of-Spain, at that time, he said he was “no rubber stamp” to push through decisions and had to protect the public interest.