COMPANIES associated with Jamaican-Canadian billionaire Michael Lee-Chin have formally missed a critical US$94.1-million bond payment, breaching a last-chance ultimatum issued by creditors and risking the enforced sale of his stake in NCB Financial Group.

The missed payment activates a forbearance agreement reached in November, where bondholders explicitly demanded that failure to pay the sum would “trigger the sale of a portion of his stake in NCB Financial, pledged as collateral”. The formal confirmation of the breach was issued late Wednesday by the debt’s trustee.

JCSD Trustee Services Limited, acting for noteholders of AIC (Barbados) Limited, Portland Barbados Limited, and Specialty Coffee Investment Company Limited, confirmed it had not received the combined payment of US$94,091,461 by the close of business on December 31. The payment was a last-chance condition to forestall litigation after a 30-day grace period expired on November 29.

In November, Christopher Zacca, chairman of the bondholders’ negotiating committee, stated that Lee-Chin had been “very confident all along” in meeting the year-end obligation. When contacted late Wednesday after the breach was confirmed, Zacca declined to elaborate. “I’m not prepared to say anything more than the JCSD has said,” he told the Jamaica Observer in a brief phone call Wednesday.

The resolution, described by Zacca as an “agreed resolution between the committee and Mr Lee Chin“, was approved across 14 separate bondholder meetings beginning November 30 — the same day bondholders initially instructed the trustee to file a Supreme Court claim.

The trustee’s advisory notes that it has received communication from the issuer confirming an intention to make the payment on or before January 26, 2026. However, the failure to meet the deadline constitutes a formal breach, activating the bondholders’ instruction to pursue legal enforcement, which, per their November directive, is to file an originating summons and fixed-date claim form before the Supreme Court. “In accordance with the resolution, if both payments… are not made the trustee is committed to pursuing the instructions outlined in the resolution,” the advisory stated.

Zacca, in November at a meeting with bondholders, had outlined a longer-term, three-tranche agreement. The plan stipulated that the issuers would pay all outstanding interest up to June 2026 by September of next year, followed by another interest payment in 2027, culminating in the full extinguishment of the US$297-million total debt by the end of 2027. The forbearance agreement also required Lee-Chin to present a comprehensive repayment plan for the remaining US$203 million to bondholders by March 31, 2026 — a process now in doubt.

Wednesday’s default on the first tranche places the entire multi-year repayment plan in immediate jeopardy and shifts the process to the trustee for enforcement.

The breach intensifies pressure on Lee-Chin to liquidate assets swiftly, with his 52.15 per cent stake in NCB Financial Group Ltd (NCBFG) seen as the most likely source of funds. Based on NCBFG’s 2.58 billion issued shares and Wednesday’s closing price of $38.87, the stake is now valued at approximately US$333 million ($52.3 billion), a sum that is more than sufficient to cover the immediate and total debt.

The default directly contradicts the narrative of an “orderly process” Lee-Chin himself outlined just 48 hours prior. His announcement of a 45-day review period has been pre-empted by the formal breach, which automatically activates the trustee’s enforcement mandate under the November agreement. The trustee’s commitment to provide an update the week of January 5, 2026, shifts control of the timeline from the billionaire to his creditors.