Caymanas sale stalls at the starting gate
Published:Saturday | March 26, 2016 | 8:40 AMArthur Hall
The Cabinet's plan to divest the State-owned horse racing company, Caymanas Track Limited (CTL), could be stalled in the starting gates following legal action by former champion jockey Shane Ellis.
The Supreme Court last week granted an injunction sought by lawyers representing Ellis to bar CTL from disposing of assets up to the value of $150 million, effectively leaving the divestment to Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL) as a non-starter.
In an order dated March 21, Supreme Court judge Sonia Bertram-Linton blocked CTL from disposing of its assets up to $150 million until the matter is further considered on April 18.
CTL and its CEO Cedric Stewart have been given 14 days to disclose their assets to the court, even as the judge made no order that would prevent racing from continuing.
Ellis, a two-time champion jockey in Jamaica, had filed a defamation lawsuit against CTL and Stewart over comments he claimed had damaged his reputation following a race in 2013 when his mount Morebulletstofire failed to finish a race.
Delaying and frustrating
With that lawsuit pending, lawyers representing Ellis returned to the Supreme Court claiming that CTL is delaying and frustrating his efforts to obtain justice until it can divest itself of its assets, and along with any contingent liabilities.
"I have no claim against ... SVL and so, if the first-named defendant (CTL) is permitted to divest itself of its assets whether by sale or lease before this matter is tried, I will be left holding an empty judgment for a substantial amount of damages with nothing to enforce it against.
"This has been the defendants' plan all along," claimed Ellis in his affidavit seeking to block the divestment of the racetrack.
"Additionally, CTL is technically insolvent and only continues to operate with government support until its assets can be divested - a process that would rescue CTL from the consequences of operating while insolvent but will leave me without any recourse to justice," added Ellis.
Last week, Information Minister Ruel Reid announced that the Cabinet had approved SVL as the preferred bidder for CTL but announced that "the final sales terms are to come back to the Cabinet for the final approval".
The CTL privatisation opportunity was advertised by the Development Bank of Jamaica in May 2015, and the bid submission deadline was extended twice from July 10, 2015 to August 28, 2015, and subsequently to September 18, 2015 to accommodate the due diligence of prospective investors.
CTL is Jamaica's sole horse racing promotions company, which operates the Caymanas Park Track situated in Portmore, St Catherine.
Yesterday, chairman of the CTL board, Christopher Brown, directed our news team to Stewart for a comment, but efforts to contact him were unsuccessful.