Feb 2008 Financial News

BS&T saga could end in delisting

Feb 18, 2008

THERE IS A REAL POSSIBILITY that Barbados Shipping & Trading (BS&T) could be delisted from the Barbados Stock Exchange.

The development has not been ruled out by Neal & Massy chief executive officer Bernard Dulal-Whiteway, who told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that the next move "depended on how circumstances go".

The Trinidadian conglomerate which controls 85 per cent of BS&T's shares is expected to get the green light from the Barbados Securities Commission to take up and pay for the shares tendered to it.

Dulal-Whiteway said that Neal & Massy will give other BS&T shareholders the opportunity to offer up their shares as part of a negotiated settlement with the commission to end legal action against the company.

If Neal & Massy gets 90 per cent of the shares, Dulal-Whiteway said, it could apply for compulsory acquisition of the outstanding stock and get 100 per cent control of the company.

Dulal-Whiteway stressed that the 3 000 BS&T shareholders would not be completely disenfranchised because they would be indirectly invested through their Neal & Massy holdings. The takeover offer included cash and equity.

"We have great plans for BS&T and it will not be Trinidad and Tobago running BS&T, but we will be relying on local management," he noted.

The top executive said Neal & Massy remained very interested in Barbados' economy despite the 13-month-long battle that pitted it against some BS&T shareholders, rival bidders and the regulator.

BS&T, which was formed in 1920, employs 2 500 people and has 20 subsidiaries and 12 associated companies. It is involved in retail, insurance, shipping, aviation ground handling, real estate, feed production, and motor sales among other business endeavours.


Source:
The Nation News (Barbados)
Published on: 2/17/08.
by Geralyn Edward

http://www.nationnews.com/story/293993159548792.php