CL Financial

C L Financial Limited
TTSE: CIF
IndustryInsurance financial services
Founded1993
Headquarters41 - 43 St. Vincent Street
Port of Spain, TT.
Key people
Lawrence Duprey, Chairman & CEO
ProductsInsurance

CL Financial was the largest privately held conglomerate in Trinidad and Tobago and one of the largest privately held corporations in the entire Caribbean, before the company encountered a major liquidity crisis and subsequent bailout in 2009.

Founded as an insurance company, Colonial Life Insurance Company (CLICO) by Cyril Duprey, it was expanded into a diversified company by his nephew Lawrence Duprey. CL Financial then became one of the largest local conglomerates in the region, encompassing over 65 companies in 32 countries worldwide with total assets exceeding TT$100 billion.[1]

However, CL Financial experienced a liquidity crisis that resulted in a "bail out" agreement by which the government of Trinidad and Tobago loaned the company funds ($7.3 billion as of December 2010) to maintain its ability to operate, and obtained a majority of seats on the company's board of directors.[2] As of late 2010, the company remained in a tenuous position amid tense negotiations with the government,[3] and as of February 2011, the company's web site (www.clfinancial.com) was no longer functioning.

CL Financial started out as a holding company for Colonial Life Insurance Company (Trinidad) Limited (Clico) in 1993.

  1. ^ "OECS to consider CLICO debacle". Caribbean News Agency (CANA). 2009-02-02. Archived from the original on 2009-02-06. Retrieved 2009-02-03. The development at CL Financial, which boasts of over US$100 billion of assets in at least 28 companies, has sent shock waves throughout the region.
  2. ^ Yetming: New Clico deal, or No money for shareholders Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Trinidad & Tobago Guardian Online, 2010-12-04. (Accessed February 2011)
  3. ^ CL Financial Bailout Archived January 11, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Afra Raymond. (Accessed February 2011)