By McPherse Thompson, Staff Reporter 
McConnell
LASCELLES deMercado, one of the island's largest conglomerates, yesterday sold a block of more than 200 million shares it held in Kingston Wharves to a group of shipping and pension fund managers.
The over-the-counter sale, which fetched more than $270 million or $1.35 per share, was sold at a discount of 30 cents per share below the price Kingston Wharves traded on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE).
Reacting to the sale, Don Wehby, financial director of Grace, Kennedy & Company, which owns 42 per cent of Kingston Wharves to make it the largest shareholder, questioned why Lascelles accepted 30 cents below the market on the shares when there were orders for $1.65, the price at which it traded on the JSE yesterday.
However, William McConnell, group managing director of Lascelles deMercado, said the company has been in negotiations with potential buyers for some time and because of the volume of the stocks they had to be prepared to accept a discount.
"We didn't want to fragment the block," said Mr. McConnell. "It's a big block of shares and quite often when you are selling blocks of shares of this size you have to take a discount to get it sold," he added.
Mr. Wehby also questioned the sale of the stocks over-the-counter rather than on the JSE, noting that, based on the sale price, it would have attracted more than $20 million in transfer tax and stamp duties. "I find the whole transaction mystifying," Mr. Wehby said. "Someone had to spend millions of dollars more to deal with the transaction this way and you have to ask why," the Grace, Kennedy financial director added.
Over-the-counter sales of shares attract transfer tax of 7.5 per cent as well as stamp duty, whereas as those sold on the Stock Exchange attract a total levy of less than two per cent and are not subject to transfer tax.
Mr. McConnell said that at the request of the purchasers, the sale was not conducted on the JSE.
Lascelles' 200 million Kingston Wharves stocks were brought by Transocean Shipping, the Jamaica Producers Group Pension Fund, Kingston Port Workers Superannuation Fund, Shipping Association of Jamaica Property, Lannaman & Morris, Jamaica Freight & Shipping Pension Fund, and Maritime & Transport.
Asked why the shares were sold at this time, Mr. McConnell it was in furtherance of a decision the company took eight years ago not to continue in the shipping business.
He explained that Lascelles deMercado used to own shares in Western Terminal and Kingston Wharves, but the management took the decision not to continue in that business and hence merged those operations. He said it was a recognition that that was not part of the company's core business that they decided to sell the shares.
"We think it's a convenient time for us to exit," said Mr. McConnell. "The good thing about it is that so many pension funds in the shipping business bought the shares," added the group managing director. He said a letter was being sent to the JSE to advise that body of the sale of the stocks.
Lascelles deMercado's flagship company is the Spanish Town Road, St. Andrew-based distillers J. Wray & Nephew, which operates the Appleton Estates in St. Elizabeth.
