Harford: CLICO investors selling themselves short

(Trinidad Express) Unit holders of the Clico Investment Fund are giving away their investments, Republic Bank chairman Ronald Harford has said.

Speaking after the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business graduation ceremony Saturday night at the Hyatt Regency (Trinidad), Port of Spain, Harford said perhaps investors were eager to get back their investments because they had thought they would never get it back, and the Fund is providing such an avenue.

“But they should be patient. (The units) are far more valuable than the deals I see going through,” he said.

“It’s four units for one Republic Bank share; Republic is for TT$105.00 so it should be about TT$26.00 per (unit) although the last transaction I saw was about TT$20.00. If you buy (these units) you are getting Republic’s shares at a huge discount,” he said.

Eighty-six per cent of the Fund comprises 40,072,299 Republic Bank shares with a nominal value of nearly TT$4 billion. Republic Bank is listed on the ordinary share market of the local Stock Exchange (TTSE) for TT$105.50 per share. The CIF, listed on the TTSE mutual fund market, was last valued at TT$20.31 per unit, after a launch price of TT$25.00 per unit.