Barbados: Some 18 major shareholders of Trinidad Cement Limited's (TCL) Arawak cement plant are manoeuvring to force out the current board of directors and install its own directors.

The shareholders pushing to get rid of the board include Republic Bank Limited, the Trinidad National Insurance Board, Trinidad and Tobago Unit Trust and a Barbados' Bourne Investment Inc. Holding 54.7% of the shares of TCL, the aggrieved shareholders are not happy with the way TCL has been managed in recent years.

The Caribbean's only cement producer has faced deep financial problems, despite the favourable competitive position it holds in most Caribbean Community Secretariat (CARICOM) countries. In Barbados the Arawak cement plant is the sole cement provider. TCL also operates Caribbean Cement Ltd in Jamaica, while its biggest operation is in Trinidad and Tobago.

The board members that the upset shareholders want removed include TCL's CEO Rollin Bertrand, who once ran the Arawak Plant, Leonard Nurse, Andy Bhajan, Bevon Francis and Brian Young. In addition to seeking a compulsory meeting of the shareholders of TCL to remove the board forthwith, the group provided their own list of directors to immediately take control of TCL until the close of the first annual meeting following their election.