Sep 2006 Financial News

BS&T buying into Bahamas food chain

Sep 07, 2006

BARBADOS SHIPPING AND TRADING (BS&T) has expanded its reach to The Bahamas, joining a team of Bahamian investors to purchase majority interest in a chain of 12 supermarkets owned by the Winn Dixie company in Florida.

As a result of the US$56 million transaction, the new holding company BSL Holdings Limited has replaced Winn Dixie as the major shareholder.

BS&T's investment in BSL Holdings is pending the submission of an application to the Bahamian Government for approval to secure a 40 per cent shareholding in that company. Shareholding in BSL Holdings includes Bahamian pension funds, corporate entities and private individuals.

In addition, BS&T has been awarded a management oversight contract for the supermarket chain of 12 stores. Nine of those stores trade as City Markets in New Providence and three others as Winn Dixie on Grand Bahama Island.

Chief executive officer of BS&T, Anthony King, and director Frere Delmas will represent the Barbadian conglomerate on the boards of BSL Holdings and Bahamas Supermarkets Limited.

In a release yesterday, King said a core executive team had been working on this opportunity over several months and that it was BS&T's "experience in food retailing and influence with major suppliers that had positioned the company to grasp this opportunity outside of Barbados".

Bahamas Supermarkets Limited, formed in 1968, is publicly traded on the Bahamas Stock Exchange. Its principal activities are the retailing of groceries, meat, produce and delicatessen products.


Source:

GERALYN EDWARD
Nation News Barbados
Thursday 7th September, 2006

http://www.nationnews.com/story/329826523619472.php