Lee Chin buys out TT Stocks & Shares Ltd

Keith King, chief executive officer of the AIC Financial Group Ltd (AICFG) yesterday announced that the group has acquired Trinidad and Tobago Stocks and Shares Ltd in a transaction that furthers AICFG’s expansion into the Caribbean financial services market.  “The regional financial marketplace is changing rapidly,” King said, “and AIC Financial Group intends to be the leader in driving this dynamic process forward. Our mission is to mobilise regional capital in the Caribbean to facilitate the creation and retention of wealth for our  regional stakeholders.”
  
“The acquisition of Stocks and Shares Ltd is in line with AICFG’s ultimate goal — to offer a fully integrated range of financial products and services which facilitate wealth management to investors across the Caribbean,” he added. Trinidad and Tobago Stocks and Shares Ltd was established in 1975, and is today one of the country’s most reputable companies in the securities trading business, offering stock brokerage, portfolio management, and  investment advisory services. Winston Padmore, chief executive officer at Trinidad and Tobago Stocks and Shares Ltd, said that this strategic move would give the company’s clients access to a wider range of securities, allowing them to increase their investment portfolios, both in terms of volume and value.

The venture will fall under the direction of Raoul Thomas, executive  director of Securities Trading and Distribution, AIC Financial Group. This is the third acquisition made by AIC Financial Group within the last four months. In January 2004, AICFG acquired Total Finance Ltd, through which the group now provides foreign exchange trading and mortgage and lease financing. And in April 2004, AICFG acquired Richard Kellman’s investment advisory company, Integra International Ltd. AICFG was incorporated in Trinidad and Tobago in October 2003. The group is a subsidiary of AIC Ltd, the Canadian company owned by Michael Lee Chin, which manages over Can$15 billion in assets for nearly one million Canadian investors, using its unique “Buy. Hold. And Prosper,” investment philosophy.