SSL OUT !

A new business is set to take up residence at 33 ½ Hope Road after Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL) moved out at the end of February.

SSL moved its operations to 11 Connolley Avenue on February 26 as it currently seeks to resolve the movement of client assets to different brokers. This is the same address as its temporary manager, Business Recovery Services Limited (BRSL).

This change of location comes at a time when SSL’s staff count has shrunk even further, and the business is under oversight by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) through the temporary manager. SSL would have received an infusion of US$1 million in cash related to the proceeds of its insurance policy last September. However, the business is no longer a Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) broker and has not been actively doing business in several months.

Jamaica Observersources indicate that a fast-food restaurant might take up residence at the Hope Road property, which is currently being advertised for lease at US$14,500 per month by Jamaica Sotheby’s International Realty. Six thousand square feet of interior space is being advertised to potential tenants for the property, which was listed 53 days ago. This translates to US$2.4167 per sq ft of space.

According to a person close to the developments, the move from its current head office would have resulted in its lease costs being cut by more than half. This is considering that SSL would have sought Government assistance last August to pay remaining staff and has been downsizing some of its operations since then.

The Hope Road, St Andrew, property where SSL operated was not owned by it, but instead, it was owned by SSL Number 4 Limited, a St Lucian international business company (IBC) whose owners are not publicly known. SSL’s main shareholder is SSL Growth Equity Limited, a Barbadian IBC which has been affiliated with some of its former directors.

SSL Number 4 purchased the property in November 2007 for $30 million with its unimproved valuation in July 2013 being $36 million. The property is 1,333.68 square metres or 14,355.61 sq ft. The location is currently shuttered with the SSL decal removed from the front of the building and off the display sign.

The FSC will be back in court again next Monday when it continues its case against SSL and Caydion Campbell. The matter, which is being heard in the Supreme Court, began on February 26 and took a break on March 7 after numerous arguments were brought by both parties. However, Justice David Batts is questioning the point of the ongoing trial when both parties want to have a court-supervised wind-up of SSL. The FSC’s attorney is set to continue cross-examination of witnesses next week.

Campbell was appointed trustee of SSL a day before the FSC appointed its temporary manager in January 2023. However, the FSC is seeking to invalidate Campbell’s appointment and be given clear control of the firm while Campbell’s attorneys want him appointed trustee and for the temporary manager to be removed. There are numerous other court cases which are pending the resolution of this case. The FSC is being represented by Lisa White, a senior attorney in the Attorney General’s Chambers, and Campbell by King’s Counsel Caroline Hay. Carlene Larmond, KC is the court-appointed independent attorney for SSL.