Saturday, February 13, 2010

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Dividend payout to come at Cable Bahamas By Scott Armstrong ~ Guardian Business Editor ~ scott@nasguard.com: Shareholders in the now 100 percent Bahamian-owned Cable Bahamas will get a dividend this year, its president has told The Nassau Guardian. Speaking after officially announcing his company had finally bought out its former controlling shareholder Columbus Communications, Tony Butler said the firm was on track to post another good set of results expected at the end of this month or the beginning or March. On Friday Cable Bahamas confirmed the $80 million buyout of Columbus' 30.2 per cent stake had gone through after receiving clearance from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)and final approval from the government. Butler said: "I am delighted this long process is finally at an end. It makes us the biggest communications player in The Bahamas and helps us take advantage of the liberalization of the market. "There are lots of opportunities which we can now take advantage of." While Columbus are now no longer in control the Canadian company will still be involved though a management services contract it has been given Cable Bahamas. Butler said: "Essentially that contract is about economies of scale and avoiding replication. The company has a number of facilities and resources across the Caribbean and it makes more sense for them to continue with that integrated network, rather than we duplicate the whole matter. "Plus when we go out to find programming it means we can team up on the numbers, so rather than having 70,000 subscribers jointly we can bring 400,000 to the table for any negotiation. It's a win win situation." Cable Bahamas' president also spoke to questions asked as to why only Columbus' shares had been purchased for $13 dollars at the time, instead of offering its thousands of Bahamian shareholders to sell at the same price, who for some time have only been able to trade at $10 a share. One shareholder told The Nassau Guardian: "Essentially one shareholder benefited when some 3,00 plus shareholders missed out. If they had said all shareholders have the right to tender their shares at $13, which was a premium, that would be fair but this was a closed deal where only Columbus shares were being acquired." Butler said: "We had an independent valuation done, considering that they were these were the controlling shares in the company, and that was the fair price that was indicated, we did cover this in our Annual General Meeting. "When Cable Bahamas first went out to the market the shares were issued at $1, if you look now they are more than $13, they have gone up in value on BISX, to me that represents a good deal and a good return. "Anyone who has invested in Cable Bahamas have increased their investment four or five fold plus. As a private investment we are a success story." Monday February 1, 2010