The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Prime Minister’s efforts to regain majority ownership of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) rated not a mention at Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) Friday results conference, but a key member of his negotiating team pledged: “The public will soon be presented with considerable evidence as to why this was an horrendously bad deal.”

Franklyn Wilson, the Arawak Homes and Sunshine Insurance chairman, told Tribune Business that while the Government’s bid to retake the majority equity interest at BTC might be ‘dead’, or of little interest, to London-based analysts covering BTC, it was “anything but” to the Government and its negotiating team.

Speaking following CWC’s third quarter results announcement, with its focus on improving trading conditions in Panama and Jamaica, Mr Wilson said the team would inquire as to the real reasons for the departure of BTC’s chairman, David Shaw.

Mr Shaw, who is also chief executive of CWC’s Caribbean regional subsidiary, LIME, announced late on Thursday that he was leaving the company but, again, this attracted no interest or comment from the London-based investment analysts covering CWC.

Mr Wilson told Tribune Business there was “no proof” that the Government’s efforts to win back majority ownership at BTC had played a role in Mr Shaw’s departure, with his post now set to be taken by CWC’s London-based group chief executive, Tony Rice.

Still, Mr Wilson argued that it was in the interests of both CWC and BTC to remain engaged with the Government’s negotiating team, suggesting it was still possible to achieve an outcome that would be “a win for all sides”.

CWC’s Friday conference with investment analysts was a dull affair as far as BTC and the Bahamas were concerned, with no questions asked about the company, and little information provided.

Mr Rice merely said: 
“The Bahamas is performing well, and we continue to improve the infrastructure and provision of services for Bahamians - consumers and businesses.

“In this [third quarter] period, we began trialling TV services and launched our 11th, and final, flagship store.”

And CWC’s own results statement was even less forthcoming, stating: “The Bahamas is delivering solid progress in its financial performance, together with much improved service and product offerings to its customers.”

But, while the Government’s efforts to regain a BTC majority ownership stake of 51 per cent or greater may have dropped off London’s radar screen, Mr Wilson emphatically said neither the Christie administration nor the negotiating team regarded the issue as ‘dead’.

“We do not regard it as such. Anything but,” he told Tribune Business when contacted by this newspaper. “As far as we’re concerned, the discussions remain active.

“This matter is far from dead by any measure. We regard these talks as very much alive, and the Prime Minister has made that clear to us in recent times.

“We are diligently in pursuit of this. This is very much alive. It is very much in the interests of BTC and CWC to remain engaged in this matter, and I believe there are possibilities of a win on all sides. We’re going to press on and do what we have to do.”

Mr Wilson disclosed that the CWC and Government negotiating teams have not yet met face-to-face this year, although the two parties are in correspondence with each other.

And he conceded that CWC’s regional managerial restructuring, involving Mr Shaw’s departure, might impact both the negotiating timetable and the ability of BTC’s majority owner to move towards a settlement. Mr Shaw is staying on for six months to help with the transition, although it is unclear who will replace him on the BTC Board and in the chairman’s seat.

Asked whether the ongoing BTC talks may have been a factor in Mr Shaw’s departure, Mr Wilson replied: “We have no proof, but we are going to ask them [CWC/LIME] about it. We have some theories.

“You would expect us to be doing due diligence and doing research beyond what they have confirmed in public.”

Hinting that further revelations might come out if there was no movement by CWC in their talks, Mr Wilson told Tribune Business: “In the fullness of time, the Bahamian public will get to see just how horrendously bad a deal this was.”

Pressed repeatedly by this newspaper for specifics, Mr Wilson did not give any, restricting himself to saying: “It’s just pretty much what the public were saying and thinking at the time.

“We have considerable evidence to support the notion that the public knew better than the policymakers of the day. It was an horrendously bad transactions.

“In time, the public will be presented with considerable evidence as to why this was so....... It’s in the national interests of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas for this horrendously bad transaction to somehow be reversed.”

And Mr Wilson added: “I now have more evidence to convince me this was an horrendously tragic transaction from a national interest point of view.”

Asked by Tribune Business whether the Government and its negotiating team would look at various compromise solutions, Mr Wilson replied: “All options are on the table.

“In negotiations, it’s prudent for any negotiator in any transaction to keep an open mind. But it would be a mistake for anyone to believe these negotiations are dead.”

Well-known financial analyst, Richard Coulson, had previously suggested to this newspaper that the Government could accomplish its objectives by both it and CWC selling a portion of their BTC stakes to the Bahamian public.

In so doing, Bahamians would again own the majority equity in BTC - between the Government and the public - while CWC would remain as the largest sole shareholder, with Board and management control.

The Government has been repeatedly warned that seeking to overturn, and redo, BTC’s privatisation could potentially deter foreign direct investment (FDI) at a time when the Bahamas needs its most, and setback communications industry liberalisation - a development vital to this country’s economic competitiveness. But the Government appears determined to press on ahead regardless.

CWC’s results conference was largely taken up by the company’s progress in Panama, where cellular revenues rose 5 per cent, and a 40 per cent year-over-year rise in cellular subscriber numbers in Jamaica.

The only other times the Bahamas featured were when Mr Rice compared it favourably to the eastern Caribbean, saying (erroneously) that the economy here was growing by 4-5 per cent.

CWC executives also compared their 51 per cent equity holding in BTC to the 90 per cent average ownership interests the company has in its other Caribbean businesses.

They noted that a decline in the performance of those businesses, which was offset by the likes of BTC, would impact cash flow and earnings per share (EPS).

Apart from Mr Wilson, the other members of the Government’s negotiating team are ex-attorney general Sean McWeeney; former BTC chief executive, Leon Williams; and ex-Ministry of Finance legal adviser, Rowena Bethel.