Bondholders give more time to Lee-Chin, eye year-end payment
Published:Friday | December 12, 2025 | 10:10 PM
Bondholders have approved resolutions granting Jamaican-Canadian businessman Michael Lee-Chin more time to service bonds, provided they receive a payment tranche by year’s end.
JCSD Trustee Services Limited, in a document dated December 12, and seen by The Gleaner, confirmed that all resolutions presented at recent noteholder meetings passed with the required “supermajority threshold” of 75 per cent of the outstanding value, either in person or by proxy.
JCSD general manager Andrea Kelly had not immediately responded to messages sent by the Financial Gleaner.
The approvals cover a diverse portfolio of 14 notes valued at over US$300 million linked to AIC (Barbados) Limited, Portland Barbados Limited, and Specialty Coffee Investments Company.
Lee-Chin, chairman or majority owner of these entities, did not immediately respond to messages from the Financial Gleaner.
The debt matures on a phased basis in August 2024, January 2025, August 2025, August 2026 and January 2027.
The resolutions give Lee-Chin more time to service these bonds, according to the head of a financial entity who asked to remain nameless.
But it is conditional on partial payments being made by year end.
Failure to pay would trigger the sale of a portion of his stake in NCB Financial, pledged as collateral, the source added.
The December payment would equate to roughly US$90 million or “one-third” of the total value of the bonds, according to a Specialty Coffee bondholder who requested anonymity.
The source expressed hope that funds would be received before New Year’s Eve.
“Yes, I would appreciate that payment,” he said.
The remaining “two payments” of the recently matured Specialty Coffee Bond now extend into 2027, the specialty bondholder said.
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