Jan 2008 Financial News

Neal & Massy may pull out

Jan 02, 2008

THE Barbados Securities Commission (BSC) has slapped Neal & Massy with a cease trade order, barring it from buying or selling Barbados Shipping & Trading (BS&T) shares until January 31, 2008, or until further instructed.

But the move has left top officials of the Trinidadian conglomerate seeking to take-over BS&T "so frustrated" that its chief executive officer Bernard Dulal-Whiteway said Neal & Massy had now been forced to decide whether to abandon its takeover bid altogether.

The commission said it took the action in the interest of the public and for the protection of investors.

However, in an interview with the DAILY NATION yesterday Dulal-Whiteway said the cease trade order would mean Neal & Massy would exceed the 30 days allowed it to take up shares and pay BS&T shareholders who tendered their shares to it.

The Neal & Massy top executive said the company, which had more than 80 per cent of BS&T shares committed to it, would "regroup" but a decision to end its takeover bid was "now a live possibility" because the BSC "seems determined to ensure that we do not take up and pay shareholders".

According to Dulal-Whiteway: "This is not a piece of land that we are buying. This is a living organisation with people's jobs at stake, new investments and suppliers waiting for this thing to finish and this is affecting BS&T."

The Neal & Massy CEO also felt that the local High Court was unlikely to reach a decision in the matter before month-end and even if it did there were likely to be appeals.

"This thing could go on for years," he lamented.

Meanwhile, the commission, in a published statement yesterday, outlined several reasons for its High Court action.

It is seeking a declaration from the court that AMCL Holdings' (ANSA McAL) withdrawal published on October 16 was in breach of the takeover bid regulations and thus was illegal and void.

It also wants a declaration that Neal & Massy's announcement on October 16 "amounted in law to a withdrawal" and that its amended offer to 50 per cent of each BS&T shareholder's shareholding was illegal. (GE)

Source:
The Nation News Barbados
Wednesday 2nd January, 2008

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