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MONDAY, JULY 15, 2024
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BPL grid’s value doubles in $100m bond document By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
• Bahamas Grid Company pegs PPE assets at $220m THE company taking over New Providence’s • But Gov’t/BPL took $100m electricity grid appears to ‘book value’ for 40% stake be valuing it at more than double the Government’s price in an offering docu- • Pintard in ‘giveaway’ fears; calls for investor identities ment promoting its new $100m bond issue. Bahamas Grid Company, the newly-formed entity charged with controlling and overhauling the island’s transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure, has placed a $220m valuation on its property, plant and equipment (PPE) assets during its first year in existence according to the bond offering’s private placement memorandum (PPM). That valuation is 120 percent higher, or more than double, the $100m “book valuation” placed on the New Providence
energy grid assets being transferred to Bahamas Grid Company by the Government and Bahamas Power & Light (BPL). Given that Bahamas Grid Company has just been incorporated, it is almost certain that most - if not all - its PPE assets will be those it is inheriting from BPL. Michael Pintard, the Opposition’s leader, last night told this newspaper that he and his party “are very much concerned” about the discrepancy between the PPM
valuation and that provided by the Government and BPL. He added that it reinforced their concerns that the Government was engaged in “a giveaway” of BPL assets, which are ultimately owned by the Bahamian people, as part of its energy reform drive. Jobeth Coleby-Davis, minister of energy and transport, is according to her social media pages on vacation and could not be reached for comment. However, the Bahamas Grid Company bond offering document, a copy of
MICHAEL PINTARD which has been obtained by Tribune Business, confirmed the $100m “book valuation” placed on the New Providence energy grid assets that are being transferred to majority private investor control. “Bahamas Grid Company will be a 40 percent BPL/government, 60 percent private partnership,” the $100m bond offering document stipulates. “For
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60,000 water meter switch boost to Water Corp clients By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Water & Sewerage Corporation will today launch a $15m-plus initiative to replace more than 60,000 residential water meters as part of an $87.5m capital improvement drive. Robert Deal, the stateowned water supplier’s general manager, in written replies to Tribune Business questions revealed that installation of the first “smart meters” will begin today with the improved technology able to “more rapidly detect” leaks and prevent customers from
ROBERT DEAL running up high water bills as a result. “The Water & Sewerage Corporation has received our first shipment
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Ex-BEST chief loses appeal on $1.75m missed payment By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas’ former top environmental regulator can no longer prevent his Shirley Street gas station’s seizure by the Bank of The Bahamas’ bail-out vehicle because he failed to pay a $1.75m security. Court of Appeal president, Jon Isaacs, revealed in a July 4, 2024, oral ruling that Dr Donald Cooper, the ex-Bahamas Environment, Science and Technology (BEST) Commission chief, failed to pay the required sum “into court” within the 28 days stipulated by an earlier ruling on May 2029. Referring to Dr Cooper and his company, DLC
Investments, he said: “The intended appellants were given the opportunity to meet the requirements stipulated by the court. They have failed to do so. The court indicated the consequence of failure, which is that the proposed appeal would be dismissed. “In the circumstances that counsel has admitted that the $1.75m was not paid within the 28 days stipulated by the court, the appeal stands dismissed.” Dr Cooper and his firm had originally sought extra time in which to appeal a Supreme Court order granting Bahamas Resolve “vacant possession” of the Rubis-branded gas station
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‘Brazen attempt’ to avoid Bahamas court on $370m FTX claim By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net FTX’s Bahamas liquidators are slamming “a brazen attempt” by a failed crypto lender “to circumvent” this nation’s Supreme Court in pursuing $370m worth of claims. Brian Simms KC, the Lennox Paton senior partner, and the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) accountant duo, Kevin Cambridge and Peter Greaves, are asserting that efforts by Celsius Network’s administrator to lift US legal protections for the crypto exchange’s Bahamian subsidiary will cause “extraordinary hardship” at an especially sensitive time in its liquidation. The trio, who are overseeing FTX Digital Markets’ winding-up on the Supreme Court’s behalf, argue in recently-filed court documents that Celsius’ late intervention and threat of new litigation will cause a massive “distraction” - and cost both money and time - just as they need to pay “full attention” to receiving
BRIAN SIMMS KC and settling claims from the crypto exchange’s creditors. They slammed the move by Celsius and its litigation administrator, Mohsin Meghji, to persuade the Delaware Bankruptcy Court to lift the US Chapter 15 stay - which protects FTX Digital Markets and its US-based assets from lawsuits filed by creditors - as “futile, wasteful and premature”. Celsius, which effectively functioned as a digital assets bank, allowed customers to deposit crypto currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum with it. They were then able to pledge
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