Baldie still hoping for PM’s intervention in eviction
Published:Sunday | October 10, 2021 | 12:09 AMMark Titus - Sunday Gleaner Writer
There is still no word from the Office of the Prime Minister as to whether it will heed to the plea for help from Montego Bay businessman Gordon Baldie to save his business.
Nonetheless, 51-year-old Baldie, CEO of Inter-Caribbean Automotive Parts Remanufacture & Distribution Company (ICARD), still hopes that Prime Minister Andrew Holness will hear his earnest cry and reverse a decision by the Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ) to evict him from a Trelawny property that he has used as a warehouse since 2015 after falling into arrears with rent.
“I appealed to the prime minister because, like me, he is a father who knows the responsibility of caring for one’s family,” Baldie told The Sunday Gleaner late last week. “He called for local investors to take risk and invest in Jamaica, I did, but hit rock bottom and now I am calling for him to take a risk with my dream.”
Baldie, who operated a car dealership in Montego Bay before shuttering that operation to focus on the build out of the parts-remanufacturing company, agreed a five-year lease arrangement with FCJ in 2015, under the condition that all improvement work would be completed within two years.
He received a waiver on rent for the period.
He claims that he spent in excess of $24 million to retrofit the 26,400-square foot facility, which saw an increase in value from $75 million in 2016 to $130 million in 2019.
Baldie told The Sunday Gleaner that his total investment is over $100 million.
Auto parts remanufacturing is popular across Europe, Africa, Asia and some countries in South America, where Baldie learned the cutting-edge and international best practices, while seeking joint-venture partnerships.
Several reputable trade blogs are projecting growth to US$95 billion or more by 2026.
The business involves recycling, remanufacturing and reusing automotive parts, ideal for firms and government and private entities with large fleets, the solution to reducing the millions being spent to replace vehicle parts, he argues.
“The prospect is great, but we just have not found an equity partner at this point … . It is hard to lose your investment just like that,” said Baldie, who claims that the FCJ offered him the property for sale in 2017 for $95 million.
“I am still not sure how I moved from being in discussion to purchase the property, to being evicted,” he said.
“Finding an equity partner was the key to purchasing, because the market has been growing, and the need for the products and service has increased significantly,” the businessman further explained.
His confidence was buoyed by his victory at the 2018 pitch award at the Jamaica Stock Exchange, where he projected that his company would earn US$18 million in revenue per annum by 2022. US$10 million would be from the domestic market, while the remainder would be from regional distribution. The company also projected a profit margin of 30 per cent of sales.
But investors who came to the table, while expressing an interest, wanted to wait until the economic climate improved, especially with the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I never denied my arrears of $10 million. Yes, I owe the money, and I cannot pay unless there is some special arrangement because I am at rock bottom and I am struggling to recover,” lamented Baldie, who is asking for a moratorium on the monies owed so that he can get pull his business out of debt.
“I am just one document away from getting my special economic zone certification, but they need a copy of the lease and the title and I don’t have that because I owe FCJ money, but I am sure if I was a different person, they would have given me the support,” said Baldie.
“There are clients that owe FCJ a lot more money than my $9.77 million,” he said.
A former chairman of the St James West Central constituency for the People’s National Party, he, however, quickly dismissed the suggestion that the state entity’s stance was political.
“The board ratifies who they want to ratify … . All I want is to save my investment or I will lose all I have worked for,” he told The Sunday Gleaner. “The truth is that they would not renew the lease because I did not have any money and it is what matters most, not the support of businesses to survive.”