Port-of-Spain-Trinidad and Tobago is having its own industry bailout, with the government and the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago intervening in the affairs of major conglomerate C.L. Financial and its related companies. C.L. Financial has been involved in a broad range of businesses, including insurance, banking, methanol, and ammonia. One of its later ventures has been real estate investing in South Florida. As a result of the global financial crisis, as well as the sinking commodity markets, C.L. Financial is in major trouble. C.L. Financial has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government that allows the Central Bank to essentially take whatever action it sees fit. In a statement Feb. 13, the bank stated the company’s financial position is worse than originally envisaged. The bank has retained a Canadian firm to disentangle the company’s complicated financial transactions. The company has already agreed to turn over its control of Republic Bank Ltd. and Methanol Holdings Trinidad Ltd. to the government, and there is speculation that it may also have to do likewise with the $1.5 billion ammonia-urea nitrate-melamine complex (AUM). When completed in the second half of this year, AUM will comprise seven plants generating 1.5 million mt of UAN-32 and 60,000 mt of granular melamine per year. One source said the project is expected to continue to completion with no impact expected, regardless of the fate of C.L.’s majority stake. Helm Fertilizer Corp. will be handling offtake from AUM, and recently announced that it has entered into a long-term lease agreement with IC Rail Marine Terminal to construct a 60,000 ton capacity UAN solution terminal in Convent, La. (GM Feb. 9, p. 9).
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain