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BTC bidders assessed By CANDIA DAMES ~ Guardian News Editor ~ candia@nasguard.com: While the Bahamas Telecommunications Company's Privatization Committee recommended that only four potential partners be invited to the due diligence phase of the BTC sales process, The Nassau Guardian has confirmed that there were actually six that expressed an interest in purchasing a 51 percent stake in the state-owned telephone company. The Guardian understands that the committee completed an assessment of the prospective buyers' financial and technical ability and the U.K.-based communications firm Vodafone and One Equity Partners (OEP) ended up with the highest combined score. The two are said to be partners in a consortium looking to purchase the BTC shares. OEP is JPMorgan Chase's private equity arm, which manages more than $8 billion in assets. Vodafone and OEP, Digicel Limited, Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (a consortium which includes Colina Financial Advisors as a minority shareholder) and Trilogy International Partners (which is backed by Providence Equity Partners) are reportedly the four potential groups that received the nod from the privatization committee. The other two interested parties were reportedly Sun Capital Partners and Allied International Investments Limited. Allied reportedly has the backing of Dubai Holding. While Vodafone and OEP ended up with the highest score, it is understood that Digicel, Atlantic Tele-Network and Trilogy International Partners all received high scores based on certain criteria. According to The Guardian's understanding, five of the six potential partners are all thought to have strong management experience, four are thought to have strong technological experience and three of them are thought to have solid financial performance. Of the six prospective partners, three are reportedly thought to have a strong reputation and two a good reputation. Four of the six were reportedly assessed as having strong financial capacity. It is understood that Atlantic Tele-Network has experience most relevant to BTC since it is a fixed-line and wireless operator. Digicel is thought to have strong mobile regulatory experience but apparently has no significant experience with fixed-line operations. Digicel is owned by Irish businessman Dennis O'Brien. The company has more than 30 wireless networks globally, reportedly with nine million subscribers and revenues totaling $1.7 billion. While OEP reportedly has no communications regulatory experience, its partner, Vodafone, has strong mobile regulatory experience. However, it is unclear how this would benefit BTC, The Guardian has learned. In addition to acquiring a 51 percent shareholding in BTC, the new owner would gain operational control of BTC, which currently provides services to over 334,000 wireless, 132,000 fixed-line and 18,500 broadband customers throughout The Bahamas. BTC currently has 190 roaming agreements in place, serving more than four million tourists who visit The Bahamas each year. The BTC privatization process is reportedly in the due diligence and bidding phase. The Guardian learned that one concern the Privatization Committee previously expressed was the risk that could be posed to a potential sale with the narrowing down of the prospective buyers to an extremely small list (for example, two bidders). The committee has not publicly indicated how many bidders have been allowed to the due diligence stage, but several firms eyed as desirable have dropped out of the race. The Guardian previously reported that Rogers Communications, AT&T, Verizon, Mexican businessman Carlos Slim's America Movil and Cable & Wireless were shortlisted as the best prospects but all decided not to pursue the BTC deal for various reasons. While Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham previously announced that the government intended to use the proceeds of the sale of 51 percent of BTC to build a new hospital, he more recently confirmed that the money will instead be used to pay down debt given the challenging state of government revenues. Asked a few weeks ago about the change of plans, Ingraham told The Guardian, "The day before a hurricane there's one thing and the day after a hurricane there's another thing. If people were able to determine with certainty the future this would be a far different world than it is today." The latest privatization attempt comes 10 years after the former Ingraham administration announced its intent to sell a stake in the corporation known then as BaTelCo. The current sale process was launched back in July and Ingraham has said the government hopes to have the company sold by the end of the year. It's unclear, however, whether the sale will be finalized by then. Monday, November 30, 2009