The longstanding request from the Antigua and Barbuda Cabinet to the Board of Directors of the Eastern Caribbean Amalgamated Bank (ECAB) to transfer its shares from preferred shares to ordinary shares, remains unfulfilled and government is making its displeasure known over what it sees as ‘delaying tactics’ by the financial institution.
On Wednesday, the Cabinet was briefed on what it unequivocally described as bureaucratic tactics being employed by shareholders of the Eastern Caribbean Amalgamated Bank (ECAB) to block the conversion of the government’s 25% preference shares into ordinary equity shares.
In an official statement, Cabinet strongly condemned these actions as intentional and obstructive, asserting that the bank’s shareholders are actively undermining the government’s rightful equity position. “This calculated resistance is viewed as a profit-hoarding maneuver designed to erode and dilute the government’s ownership stake over time,” the statement noted.
“As it currently stands, the Cabinet does not have much ‘teeth’ because of the nature of its shareholding (preferred shares do not have voting rights) and as such it is not able to accomplish its policy objectives of divesting those shares as part of its investment enticement strategy. As a consequence, the Cabinet has ‘had it’ with ECAB and this is what the Cabinet Notes have indicated,” revealed Cabinet spokesman, Director General of Communications, Maurice Merchant at Thursday’s Post-Cabinet press briefing.
He explained that the Cabinet wishes to have ordinary shares so that can divest those shares to members of the public similarly to what it successfully did with the West Indies Oil Company shares.
According to Merchant, the government intends to use both political and legal means to achieve its goal of having its shares in ECAB converted without any further administrative or bureaucratic delays.
Merchant said the Cabinet issued a direct call to ECAB shareholders to cease this obstruction immediately and to facilitate the rightful conversion without further delay. It made clear that continued resistance will not be tolerated.
Once the conversion is executed, the government intends to divest a portion of its ordinary shares to the public, in line with its commitment to domestic economic empowerment and broader citizen ownership of national assets.
