Submitted by A. Freeman

Sir Neville, the role of the Securities Commission in part is “… the protection of investors by ensuring that they are able to invest in a fair, orderly and transparent market…”.

Under no circumstances can the delisting of a company, which has minority shareholders, be fair to its minority shareholders, especially when the major shareholder controls/holds in excess of two-thirds of the voting shares. Allowing any such delisting will set a disturbing precedent, with the potential to disadvantage minority shareholders of the companies now listed on the Barbados Stock Exchange, where there is a major shareholder that holds/controls at least two-thirds of a listed company’s shares.

If the major shareholder of a listed company desires to delist that company, the minority shareholders should first be offered a fair price, for their shares, of cash or shares in the major shareholder, if itself a listed company.