Govt. announces B.T.L. sales plan
Government has concluded a set of agreements for the sale of its shares in Belize Telecommunications Limited. That’s the word from this morning’s Cabinet press briefing presented by Information Minister Godfrey Smith. And to absolutely no one’s surprise, companies controlled by Michael Ashcroft are heavily involved the sale. The breakdown of how G.O.B. will dispose of its thirty-seven point five percent holdings in B.T.L. is as follows.
Ten percent will go to Ashcroft’s Ecom with another two and a half percent being sold to Ecom for placement with another buyer or buyers. It is assumed that this arrangement will allow Ashcroft to avoid the contentious legal issues that would arise if Ecom itself owned more than twenty-five percent of the company.
Another five percent of the shares will be bought by Ashcroft’s Belize Bank, specifically for onward sale to the Belizean public. That public offering would be handled by the Central Bank of Belize. Under this arrangement G.O.B. will get its badly needed hard currency payment up front, while what amounts to a loan from Belize Bank will be repaid by the local purchasers of the shares.
As for the remaining twenty percent, its fate is far less certain. According to Smith, it will be purchased by Sunshine Holdings Limited, the corporate entity acting as a trust for the employees of B.T.L. In the past the B.T.L. workers Union has unsuccessfully tried to find financing for a purchase that would allow the workers to exercise full voting rights for their shares. A meeting between government and union representatives was scheduled for this evening. If a sale to the workers cannot be arranged, it is not clear what G.O.B. would do with the twenty percent stake in the company.
As usual, when the cash strapped Government of Belize engages in a financial transaction, all is not what it seems. In this case, the issue of concessions that would be provided to any potential buyer was not raised in the official briefing. However, when questioned on one such concession–a guaranteed rate of return on investment–Smith admitted that the B.T.L. sale was still very much a game of “let’s make a deal.”
Godfrey Smith, Minister of Information
?I can say that negotiations are still underway for that. No such agreement of that nature has yet been signed. What was signed, the share purchase agreements were signed. There are negotiations underway to deal with some of the matters you?ve raised; nothing has been concluded on that. When that is concluded we?ll report on that.”
Jules Vasquez, 7 News
“Is it on the table?”
Godfrey Smith
“It is on the table.?
Jules Vasquez
?And the second issue, my information is that Mr. Ashcroft has indicated his willingness to take up some of the Intelco debt, which the G.O.B. stood for. Is that also under negotiation??
Godfrey Smith
?On the negotiating table, on the negotiating table.?
Jules Vasquez
?Would you be able to say how much??
Godfrey Smith
?No. No I can?t say how much.?
Jules Vasquez
?Might it be the amount tied up at R.B.T.T., which are also bundled with Mr. Prosser?s thirty-one percent??
Godfrey Smith
?It may well be.?
The concessions being negotiated are believed to be similar to those promised to Jeffrey Prosser and include, in addition to the guaranteed rate of return, floor prices for international calls and the barring of new competitors from the market. In other disclosures in connection with the B.T.L. sale, Smith put the selling price at one million U.S. dollars per percentage point. That would mean a total of seventeen point five million from the Ashcroft sales… if and when the cash and shares actually change hands.
