The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net MORE than 95 per cent of share subscriptions in the Arawak Port Development Company's (APD) $10 million initial public offering (IPO) were from individual investors, with subscriptions totalling some $44.6 million. Some $34.5 million will now be returned to shareholders, with the reimbursement process beginning tomorrow. APD chief executive, Michael Maura, said there were 11,064 new shareholders in the company, but due to the large volume of applications, 115 shares was the maximum number distributed to any one investor - meaning the maximum worth of their investment was $1,150. Mr Maura said the IPO was intended to create broad-based ownership, telling Tribune Business that it was understandable larger investors - institutions and high net worths - would undoubtedly be disappointed in the 115 share distribution limit following the bottom-up allocation process. Mr Maura said: "I can appreciate if someone had 100,000 they had hoped to buy, and they end up with 115 shares, that they would be disappointed that they didn't get their full application amount. "Everyone knew it was a $10 million offering. We were very upfront with what our objective was, which was broad based ownership." Mr Maura said the high subscription level spoke to the confidence larger investors had in APD's team and the company, noting that these institutions may have another shot when APD's private offering is made available. A $43 million private placement is designed to replace the original line of Royal Bank of Canada credit taken out for the construction phase. According to Mr Maura, that placement could be made available this summer. "The plan we have in place for the moment looks to this summer, but as always we will continue to look at our business," he added. "For us it's all about managing our costs. We are going to look at what it costs us in the way of private placement in terms of preference shares versus bonds. We have an understanding with our bridge financing team at RBC that that bridge loan is temporary, and that it would need to either be restructured or replaced by the preference shares or bonds." Mr Maura said APD's first annual general meeting will be held after shortly after its year-end on June 30. "The first AGM is expected to occur right after our year-end, which is June 30. At that time the directors have to be appointed and nominated. That will be the opportunity for all of the shareholders to appoint the directors for APD for the upcoming year. Everybody will be invited," Mr Maura said. According to Anthony Ferguson, president of CFAL, one of APD's financial advisors/placement agents, there were some 12,000 total share applications. Some 11,064 were approved after duplicates were taken out, as well as applications with bounced cheques. Mr Ferguson said there were 3,388 persons who subscribed for the minimum 50 shares, 333 persons who subscribed for 75 shares, 2,783 who applied for 100 shares, and 4,560 who applied for 115 shares. "At the end of the day we will have to return cheques to a little over 4,000 persons, close to 40 per cent of persons who would have applied," Mr Ferguson said. He added that reimbursement begins this Thursday at CFAL's office. He explained that Family Island investors will have their cheques returned through banking institutions. The $10 million IPO was launched back in December. The Government and private sector have each invested $20 million into the Arawak Cay Port, and with the completion of the IPO, they will each own a 40 per cent stake, with the public holding 20 per cent. Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham announced back in January that the Government would be providing a salary advance to give civil servants an opportunity to invest in APD's IPO. According to Mr Ferguson, just over 2,000 took advantage of salary advances by the Government.