A Cabinet press briefing presented by Information Minister Godfrey Smith outlined the details of the sale. The government will dispose of its 37.5% holdings in BTL by selling portions to different buyers.

Ten percent will go to Ecom, owned by Michael Ashcroft, with another 2.5% being sold to Ecom for placement with other buyers. This arrangement is likely aimed at allowing Ashcroft to avoid legal issues that would arise if Ecom itself owned more than 25% of BTL.

Another 5% of the shares will be bought by Ashcroft's Belize Bank, and then sold to the Belizean public. That public offering would be handled by the Central Bank of Belize. Under this arrangement, the government will get its payment up front, while what amounts to a loan from Belize Bank will be repaid by the local purchasers of the shares.

The fate of the remaining 20% is less certain. According to Smith, it will be purchased by Sunshine Holdings Limited, the corporate entity acting as a trust for the employees of BTL. In the past, the BTL workers union has unsuccessfully tried to find financing for a purchase that would allow the workers to exercise full voting rights for their shares. If a sale to the workers cannot be arranged, it is not clear what the government would do with the remaining 20% stake in BTL.

Smith put BTL’s selling price at US$ 1.0 million per percentage point. That would provide the government with a total of US$ 17.5 million from the sales to Ashcroft.

Source: Channel5Belize.com, WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News