Former TCL boss: Independent valuation needed

Rollin Bertrand, has suggested that the board of directors of the company hire a reputable investment banking firm to do an independent valuation of TCL’s shares and make a recommendation to the company’s shareholders whether they should accept or reject the latest takeover bid by the Mexican cement giant, Cemex.

Cemex on December fifth, made a bid to buy 132,616,942 TCL shares at a cash price of TT$4.50 each through an indirect subsidiary Sierra Trading.

If the bid succeeds, Sierra Trading would own up to 74.9 per cent of TCL’s shares because the company already owns 39.5 per cent.

In statements issued in Port of Spain, New York and Mexico City, the company said its offer is a 33.13 per cent premium over the closing price of TCL shares on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange the previous Friday.

Dr. Bertrand recalled that in 2002 Cemex offered a price of TT$5.62 for a hundred per cent of the company’s shares but the offer was rejected by the board. However, he said Cemex then made a hostile bid of TT$7.15, this time pitching its offer directly to shareholders.

He said the board hired the U.S. investment banking firm J.P. Morgan to do an independent valuation of the company’s shares and J.P. Morgan valued the shares at TT$10 each or U.S $1.64.

Dr. Bertrand called the latest Cemex offer “ridicuously low” and said he is anxious to see the advice of an independent valuation, adding that his own calculations suggested a share value of between TT$9.45 to TT$18.29 with an average of TT$13.75.