BSCFA to meet with Banco Atlantida and P.M. about B.S.I. buyout
Banco Atlántida of Honduras has been doing its due diligence since January 2011 to acquire the Belize Sugar Industries (B.S.I.). The factory is broke and needs forty million dollars to pay loans to the ING Group and FirstCaribbean Bank. A meeting is scheduled for Friday following the Special House sitting between the Prime Minister, the bank and cane farmers. Full details of the proposal are not known, but from what we gather, there are certain pre-conditions that the bank has put on the table. It is proposing to invest ninety million U.S. dollars to acquire majority shares, that being between fifty-one to seventy-five percent.
Banco Atlantida also wants government to provide guarantees on its investment and on credit to farmers. It proposes to spend twenty million to cultivate twenty thousand acres of cane, five million for working capital, clear the ING and FirstCaribbean debts and the remaining funds to increase milling capacity. The Hondurans are also seeking EPZ status for the mill and BELCOGEN and want to exclusively handle all banking and cash management services, that is, that all banking operations to be moved to the Atlantic Bank. But there is now word that the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association, representing six thousand farmers is also an interested party. It wants to purchase shares in B.S.I. and BELCOGEN and will be firming up a proposal to present to government. Earlier today we spoke to Alfredo Ortega of the Belize Cane Farmers Association
Alfredo Ortega
Via Phone: Alfredo Ortega, Chairman, Committee of Management, Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association
“We had a meeting with the Prime Minister about a week and a half ago where he presented to us a proposal that was sent to him by the group of Banco Atlantida showing their interest in regards to being the main shareholders of B.S.I. in regards to the financial crisis that B.S.I. is presently ongoing. According to what was presented to the P.M., they plan to invest or to repay back twenty million ING and to invest twenty million to the mill and twenty million for the farmers in the production sector, but also they want to jump in as sugar cane producers also. But that is in a bulk. We don’t know the details of it at this point in time. We also ask the Prime Minister that we would want to be shareholders also. Since this will be open for shares to be sold, well we as cane farmers are interested in also being shareholders of the mill. We will be holding a meeting with the Prime Minister tomorrow at two o’clock. Representatives from Banco Atlantida will be there to answer some details in regards to the presentation that they gave to the P.M. so that we can know the details of what they are seeking for and what changes they would want to have and what opportunities they would be seeking from the government of Belize. So those are things that we need to understand very clear and to see what positive or negative impact it will have on us, the cane farming community.”
Insiders in the productive sector say that if government will provide guarantees to the bank, it should instead invest in the farmers to keep the factory in Belizean hands.
unu dumb @$$ cane farmers unu cant see this pm prejudice against spanish people y say unu dumb and deserve nothing este hombre dice que lo latinos son estupidos y no le importa lo les pase a usted s porque odia a los latinos que viva la revolucionnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
PM YOU ARE GOING TO HURT THE CANE FARMERS NOW.YOU PLAYING GAMES WITH THE SUGAR COMPANY.PLEASE HIRE RALPH TO TAKE CARE OF THIS SALE OF SHEARS FOR YOU.THIS SMELL LIKE A NEXT BTL. US THE MONEY FROM SSB AND BELIZE BANK .OR IS IT THAT YOU RUN OUT OF MONEY FOR BOTH PLACE .OR YOU WANT TO PLAY THIS COMPANY TO MAKE PEOPLE THINK YOU ARE BRINGING INVESTOR?BUT THERE IS NO INVSTMENT IN THIS WHEN ALL THE MONEY IS TO PAY BILLS.YOU ARE LUCKY TO HAVE SO MANY YOYO IN THE HOUSE THAT YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU WANT.SHAME ON UDP GOB.WOW MINISTER FROM OW YOU ARE THE ONLY MAN IN THAT PARTY.POWER TO YOU AND BE CAREFULL DEAN COMING TO HURT YOUR PEOPLE DO SOMETHING.HE IS TAKING HIS GAME TO THE NORTH NEXT TO PG FOR THE RICE FARMERS.
When Atlantic Bank startedin Belize by Estephan it was majority owned by Atlantico of Honduras which was partly own by Chase Manhatten Bank. You have to go and do your research on the sugar industry world wide and you will find out how the big cartels such as coca cola have gone about taking over and control the industry. Don’t sleep with Dean Borrow and Manuel Esquivel eyes folks.
I agree with Roy Yates,we the Belizean Citizens need to wake up.We are the ones who are allowing these politicians to treat us like $#!%.It’s time to take a stands people.Stop the talking and let’s get into action.
Rod, just because a company from another country (and a “Hispanic” country at that!) is looking into buying an industrial plant doesn’t mean that the current Prime Minister is somehow “racist” toward “Hispanics”. To say something like that without having a substantial amount of evidence to back up that accusation would, albeit in a small way, only cause a deterioration in level of understanding that currently exists between the various ethnic groups of the country. Instead, what’s going on here is nothing more than a demonstration of one of globalisation’s most important features, which is, specifically, the creation of a global marketplace through the establishment of various economic connections between nation-states, and I believe that its reality should be expressed for what it actually is.