Prime Minister addresses nation on BTL
The following is a recorded statement released by the Prime Minister. Neither he nor any government spokesman would make any additional comment. It ran on Channel 5 just prior to our newscast.
My Fellow Belizeans:
Our Government has publicly declared on a number of occasions that, as regards the government?s 52% shareholding in BTL, our strategic objective is to divest ourselves completely of those shares in order that ownership and control of BTL can be placed in the hands of Belizeans.
Over the past several weeks, we have been engaged in a series of complex negotiations and lawsuits over the future of BTL. Under these circumstances, we have tried to bring all the parties to the table in an effort to find a solution that would be in the national interest of Belize. All the decisions we have taken in these negotiations and in the lawsuits have been done with the intention of moving us closer to our strategic objective of Belizean control of BTL.
Yesterday, we signed a Share Purchase Agreement with ECOM Ltd., one of the Carlisle Group of companies. Under this Agreement, we have now transferred 15% of our 52% shareholding in BTL to Ecom for the price of U.S. $14.5 million. This 15% represents 4,000,000 Ordinary ?B? shares and 1, 531,278 Ordinary ?C? shares. This 15% combined with the 10.02% already held by the Carlisle Group will now give them a 25% shareholding in BTL. Very importantly, the Carlisle Group has given a written undertaking that they will not seek any further shareholding in BTL.
The Government?s shareholding in BTL now stands at 37% comprised of 10,292, 173 Ordinary ?C? shares and 3, 520,000 Ordinary ?B? shares. The PSU/BNTU holds 480,000 Ordinary ?B? shares and the remaining shares are held by a number of Belizean individuals and companies.
Under the Share Purchase Agreement, the Government holds three directorship appointments on the Board of Directors of BTL, and has appointed Mrs. Karen Bevans, Mr. Keith Arnold, and Mr. Gaspar Aguilar as government?s directors. Ecom Ltd. also holds three directorships on the Board and has appointed three companies in this regard.
This now clears the path for the managers and employees of BTL, and other interested Belizeans, to purchase the remaining 37% of the shares held by the government, as well as to negotiate, with the support of the government, for the purchase of the 30% held by the ICC/ Belize Telecom Group. These negotiations are in fact already underway. With this new opportunity, it is therefore now of critical importance that we as a people come together and work together to re-Belizeanize BTL.
In creating this new opportunity, we have had to make a difficult decision. That decision was to sign a Settlement Deed under which we agreed to abandon any litigation against the Carlisle Group for the recovery of outstanding business taxes in exchange for the Carlisle Group abandoning its litigation pending in both Belize and the United Kingdom for the right to buy back BTL and undertaking to limit itself to a 25% shareholding in BTL.
In respect of the court proceedings presently underway in the federal district of Florida brought by ICC/ Belize Telecom against the Government of Belize, the state of affairs is as follows. The judge did issue an order calling for the reinstatement of the 4 ICC directors because the procedure used to remove the 4 directors was improper. But having found that the procedure was improper, the judge recognized that it could nevertheless be corrected and therefore the order provided that the Government is free to join with other shareholders to lawfully remove the ICC directors and appoint new directors. The order further specifically provides that the Government of Belize, as a secured party, is free to dispose of its shareholding in BTL.
Reaching agreement with Ecom Ltd. has therefore enabled us to achieve the objective of combining our respective shareholdings in BTL in order to lawfully appoint new directors.
Over the coming days there will be many points of view expressed on the decisions taken by Government. For some it might not be an ideal agreement, but it provides us with the most practical basis upon which to move ahead. The Agreement, by itself, does not achieve our ultimate objective. But it decisively opens the path for us to advance towards our strategic objective by placing representatives of Belizean managers and workers of BTL on the Board of Directors of BTL, clearing away much of the serious litigation surrounding BTL, limiting foreign shareholding in BTL and creating the opportunity for greater Belizean participation and ownership in BTL.
The way forward is by no means an easy one. There are no easy answers. No quick fixes. Let us not forget that in the meantime BTL continues to perform very well under the leadership of a strong, qualified and competent management team support by a hard-working and dedicated staff. The Government, the workers of BTL, the shareholders of BTL and other Belizeans must now work together to resolve the outstanding issues of BTL in order to ensure that at the end of the day we have a solution that will see BTL restored as a national Belizean asset, owned, operated and managed by Belizeans. I have no doubt that we will achieve this, one-step at a time.
