Corrected: Trinidad sells MHTL to holding company for $1.175bn

Correction: In the ICIS story headlined “Trinidad sells MHTL to holding company for $1.175bn” dated 10 October 2014, the wrong percentage was given in the MHTL stake that Trinidad sold to CEL. Please read in the third paragraph… 56.53% …instead of… 53.56% … A corrected story follows.

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Ltd (MHTL) has been sold to its minority partner, a Houston-based law firm said on Friday.

MHTL, which operates five methanol plants on the island and currently is controlled by the government, was sold to Consolidated Energy Ltd (CEL), a holding company that already owned 43.47% of MHTL.

The remaining 56.53% was bought by CEL for $1.175bn.

The government has been considering this move for months.

The law firm Ware, Jackson, Lee & Chambers, which represented CEL in the case, said in a press release that the purchase price was less than what the government had sought.

Earlier this year, an arbitration court ruled on a claim by MHTL’s minority shareholders challenging a 2009 deal that effectively gave majority ownership in the methanol producer to CLICO, a government-controlled insurer.

In November 2013, the court ruled in favour of MHTL’s minority shareholders and had set a deadline of 31 January this year for negotiating a sale. As there was no sale by that date, the ruling said the court could set a price for the sale based on market valuations. The minority owners of MHTL include the Proman Group, which runs the methanol plants.

CLICO signed over all shares MHTL to CEL in Port of Spain, Trinidad, on Thursday morning, the law firm said.

MHTL is the island’s largest methanol producer; Methanex also operates two plants there.