OVER the last decade and a half, a number of leading Jamaican businesses have been snapped up by Trinidadian companies as a result of their ineffective management, a hostile operating environment and under-capitalisation.

Does this indicate that Trinidadian companies are far better managed and employ better business practices than Jamaican ones? Is it a fact that once these beleaguered corporations are acquired they tend to go on and register better performances?

Below Caribbean Business Report lists a number of Trinidadian companies that have planted their flag in corporate Jamaica. In many instances, they have benefitted from Jamaica's misfortunes, snapping up assets fairly cheaply.

1. In 1999 Guardian Holdings Limited acquired the insurance trio of Dyoll Life, Crown Eagle and Jamaica Mutual who were all Finsaced. They were merged and now go under the banner Guardian Life.

2. The year 2000 saw RBTT acquiring FINSAC's 99.9 per cent shareholding in Union Bank of Jamaica. The bank changed its name to RBTT Bank (Jamaica). Union Bank was the result of a merger of the business of four FINSAC-controlled commercial banks and their three allied merchant banks, all seven of which sought Government intervention when faced with insolvency: Citizens Bank; Eagle Commercial Bank; Island Victoria Bank; Workers Savings & Loan Bank; Citizens Merchant Bank; Corporate Merchant Bank; and Island Life Merchant Bank.

3. Trinidad-based Guardian Holdings Ltd moved in 2001 to buy the Boscobel Beach Hotel on Jamaica's north coast in a US$14 million deal.

4. Also in 2001, executives of HD Hopwood & Co Ltd and Neal & Massy Holdings Ltd announced the completion of negotiations whereby Neal & Massy acquired 100 per cent of the shares in HD Hopwood, a 70-year-old Jamaican-based manufacturer and distributor of pharmaceuticals and consumer goods.

5. That same year, Neal & Massy's Illuminat planted its flag in Jamaica.

6. Arthur Lok Jack's Associated Brands Industries Limited (ABIL) made its presence felt in the Jamaican market by establishing Confectionery and Snacks. He purchased a 50,000 square foot building on a four-acre parcel of land in Portmore for that very purpose. This building serves as ABIL's main distribution centre in Jamaica with another distribution depot established in Montego Bay.

7. Jamaica Beverages Limited is poised to take an even greater share of the Jamaican-flavoured beverage market. It distributes Chubby, Fruta, Busta and Viva beverages for its parent manufacturing company, SM Jaleel Limited, based in Trinidad.

8. In 1999, then Prime Minister PJ Patterson announced that Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) had taken a majority stake in Jamaica's Caribbean Cement Company. The Trinidad & Tobago company paid US$29.4 million for the Government's 43.5 per cent share in Carib Cement.

9 The year 2009 saw Angostura, a subsidiary of CL Financial, ( run by Trinidadian Lawrence Duprey) acquire the Jamaican conglomerate Lascelles de Mercado (makers of both Appleton and J Wray & Nephew rums) in a deal valued at around US$700 million.

10. This year, 2010 will see Trinidad's Caribbean Airlines acquire Jamaica's national carrier Air Jamaica for next to nothing, leaving the government to deal with the airline's US$1.2 billion debt. Caribbean Airlines will no doubt insist that it cuts its staff compliment by at least 600 employees and trim its routes.

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