Companies linked to Jamaican Canadian billionaire Michael Lee Chin have missed a critical United States ninety-four point one million dollar bond payment, formally breaching a final ultimatum issued by creditors and placing his controlling stake in NCB Financial Group at risk of forced sale.
The missed payment triggered a forbearance agreement reached in November, under which bondholders warned that failure to meet the deadline would activate enforcement measures, including the sale of a portion of Lee Chin’s NCB Financial Group shares that were pledged as collateral. Confirmation of the breach was issued late Wednesday by the trustee overseeing the debt.
- Advertisement -
JCSD Trustee Services Limited, acting on behalf of noteholders for AIC Barbados Limited, Portland Barbados Limited, and Specialty Coffee Investment Company Limited, confirmed that it had not received the combined payment of ninety four million ninety one thousand four hundred and sixty one United States dollars by the close of business on December thirty one. The payment represented a final opportunity to avoid litigation following the expiration of a thirty day grace period on November twenty nine.
In November, Christopher Zacca, chairman of the bondholders’ negotiating committee, said Lee Chin had expressed confidence that the year end obligation would be met. However, when contacted late Wednesday after the breach was confirmed, Zacca declined to comment beyond the trustee’s statement, saying he was not prepared to add anything further.
The agreement described by Zacca as a mutually accepted resolution between the committee and Lee Chin was approved during fourteen separate bondholder meetings beginning on November thirty. That date also marked the point at which bondholders initially instructed the trustee to file a claim before the Supreme Court.
According to the trustee’s advisory, communication has since been received from the issuer indicating an intention to make the payment on or before January twenty six, twenty twenty six. Despite this assurance, the failure to meet the agreed deadline constitutes a formal breach. As a result, the trustee is now obligated to follow bondholder instructions to pursue legal enforcement, including filing an originating summons and fixed date claim form before the Supreme Court.
The default jeopardizes a broader three phase repayment plan outlined by Zacca in November. That plan proposed that all outstanding interest through June twenty twenty six would be settled by September of next year, followed by an additional interest payment in twenty twenty seven and full repayment of the total two hundred ninety seven million United States dollar debt by the end of that year. The agreement also required Lee Chin to submit a comprehensive repayment strategy for the remaining two hundred three million dollars by March thirty one, twenty twenty six. The credibility of that process is now in serious doubt.
Wednesday’s failure to meet the first payment obligation places the entire multi year restructuring arrangement at risk and shifts effective control of the process to the trustee and creditors.
The breach intensifies pressure on Lee Chin to raise liquidity rapidly, with his fifty two point one five percent ownership stake in NCB Financial Group viewed as the most likely source of funds. Based on the company’s two point five eight billion issued shares and Wednesday’s closing price of thirty eight dollars and eighty seven cents, the stake is valued at approximately three hundred thirty three million United States dollars, an amount sufficient to cover both the immediate payment and the full outstanding debt.
The default also contradicts the narrative of an orderly and deliberate resolution process outlined by Lee Chin just two days earlier. His announcement of a forty five day review period has effectively been overtaken by the breach, which automatically activates enforcement provisions under the November agreement.
With the trustee expected to provide an update during the week of January five, twenty twenty six, control of the timeline has now shifted decisively from the billionaire to his creditors.
