Lee Wind Paints shareholders to appear before Cabinet

Officials at the financially-troubled Lee Wind Paints are expected to appear before the Cabinet of Antigua and Barbuda this week to present a plan for the company going forward.
In recent weeks, the company closed its doors, leaving staff jobless and without pay. In a letter to staff dated June 29, managing director, Hugh Marshall Sr. said, the company was unable to meet salary commitments for the months of May and June.
Twice this year, the government of Antigua and Barbuda, a shareholder of Lee Wind Paints, had assisted with salary payments, however, the government is now unwilling to assist the company in its latest request for assistance due to the breach of an agreement.
During last Thursday’s post-cabinet press conference, Foreign Affairs Minister EP Chet Greene noted that the government is hoping to get a further update about the company’s future this week.
“Cabinet will, next week, hear a presentation from Lee Wind as to the next step, hoping by then to have the shareholders in question resolve that issue making the shares available to the government. There is already an agreement for raw materials for the plant to recommence operations,” Greene said.
He said the question that will come to Cabinet is about re-opening and the model under which Lee Wind will open.
The issue regarding the shareholder reportedly has to do with an agreement signed in October 2014. The agreement allowed for the two majority shareholders, Renee Phillips and Cosmos Phillips Jnr., to transfer shares to the government in exchange for tax write-offs.
The move would have made the government the majority shareholder in Lee Wind Paints. It is alleged, however, that more than three years have passed and the two individuals have not transferred the shares. Consequently, the government has decided not to continue funding the paint company.