Comment by demarlehole
“This is like deja vu all over again.” Yogi Berra!
Hello David,
I prefer to see this in different terms, hence my caption. How many of you remember Plantations Trading Co., Ltd. These two companies were always competitors. I worked for PTCL for almost two decades before moving to the US; back then I was a shareholder and rather than take a dividend would roll it over year after year for the purchase of additional shares even after coming here. They invested in CLICO, a then one door insurance company. Then CLICO moved into one of the buildings owned by PTCL, suddenly we heard the company was not doing well and CLICO made a bid to purchase the Company.
Some Board members were about to retire and had to have their “Golden Parachute”. You asked; What is it with BS&T wanting to sell their assets, if you checked their Annual Reports since 2002 to 2006 (I’ve got them all), see a ref copy of each; notice what they said in 2003 when they divested themselves of 50% of Neal & Messy’s shares. (Please note BU attempted to link the mentioned websites but we were unsuccessful)
Something of note, that was the last year for Chairman David Bynoe and a “Golden Parachute” had to be provided; the end of this financial year is Sir. Alan Fields’ last year and another Parachute have to be provided. You asked about the two Director’s credentials (Taylor and King) have a look at the entire board and you would not find anyone with the kind of Project Development background which is required to undertake their next BIG project; “The Pierhead Development Project”.
I have included the latest Chairman’s report FYI. I think this is where Ansa McAl sees the value in BS&T, and offered $7.00 cash as a first offer; trust me, they are willing to pay $10.00. Their first offer will be turned down by the board and they are willing to make another offer in an attempt to embarrass the BS&T board. You see N&M is committed and Ansa McAl will have them pay a premium. Those bast**** have shown their playbook and Ansa McAl have studied it.
Someone should send each member of those two boards a copy of the movie, “Wall Street” starring Michael “Greed is good” Douglas, and make it required viewing. They have been played! The Consortium has got to know they are in over their heads and should take their profits and credit themselves for they effort and increased share value.
NB: Ansa McAl owns a company called Promenade Development which has the capacity to undertake that project without going outside the company.
BU: Sorry for the long post, I’ve said quite a bit for now and will let others weigh in. This is good stuff!!!
The quote above was made by a BU commenter who is obviously situated on the inside track of corporate Barbados. BU agrees with the thrust of demarlehole’s perspective and feel it is important to highlight for the benefit of all our readers, who like us, seem to have become very passionate on the possible sale of BS&T to Trinidadian concerns. Reluctantly we agree with demarlehole’s view the local consortium which is fronted by Tony Hoyos and Colin Brewer maybe operating out of their weight class.
If we accept that the consortium who is attempting to play the role as spoiler will be unsuccessful then the only hope for BS&T remaining in local hands lies with the shareholders rejecting both the offers from Neal & Massy and Ansa McCal. The question to be asked therefore__is this is likely to happen? The Broad Street Journal published a story on 10 July 2007 which listed the 11 shareholders which own one third of BS&T shares.
Who are these shareholders? Well, apart from Neal & Massy itself, which owns just over 23% of BS&T’s 75 million outstanding shares, the largest shareholder is the Sagicor Group, which owns a total of 8.6 million shares, giving it 11.4% of the company. After Sagicor, all the other largest shareholders actually own less than 4% of BS&T. They include the NIS, which owns 2.8 million shares or 3.7% of the company; the BS&T Pension Fund, with 2.7 million shares or 3.6% of the company; Bourne Investments, with 2.6 million shares or 3.4%; the TT Unit Trust, with almost 2 million shares or 2.6%; First Caribbean Bank, which owns a total of almost 1.4 million shares, or 1.8%; RBTT Bank, which owns a total of 1.2 million shares, or 1.6%; Fortress Securities, with one million shares or 1.3%; Republic Bank, with just over half a million shares or about three quarters of one percent; Barbados National Bank, with close to 400,000 shares or just over half a percent, and Edna Leacock, with virtually the same number as BNB.
If history is any thing to go by the current shareholders will sell, especially if the bid reaches $10.00 as suggested by our BU reader demarlehole. On would imagine that the many institutional investors would cash-in on the capital gains to be made. People that follow T&T business would know that Ansa is must bigger and more aggressive than Neal & Massy__Sabga is no sweetbread!
Tomorrow should be interesting because Ansa’s formal offer will be known. Similar to the Mutual Assurance, is Barbados about to witness a transformation in the management fortunes of BS&T?
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