The government has spent over $40 million to purchase shares held by a Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) subsidiary in the Berbice Bridge Company Inc (BBCI), Minister of Finance Winston Jordan has confirmed.
Speaking at a press conference held at his Main Street office yesterday, Jordan said government, which began negotiations a year ago, paid DDL less than the asking price for the shares, which represent 10% of the of BBCI shares.
Jordan also noted that the government is “willing to buy other shares if they are offered at the right price.”
“We are not going after anybody’s shares. We won’t make offers but if they are offered at the right price, we will buy them. We didn’t approach DDL, they approached us,” he explained.
DDL had approached the government in October, 2015, seeking to sell the shares, for which government had offered to pay $45 million.
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, at a post-Cabinet press briefing, had said that government and DDL were negotiating a price for the shares.
He had explained that it was the government’s hope that when it comes to a final purchase price, the company will see the larger picture that government is trying to provide a reasonable service for a reasonable price.
“As you know, this government is determined to reduce the toll attached to the Berbice River Bridge and we have taken measures including the provision of (river) taxis to ease the pressures and burden on people who use the bridge, but we have come to a position that while we are negotiating with the bridge company to effect the reduction in the toll, we are also thinking of how this government can place itself in a better negotiating position by attracting shares so that it could have a stronger voice in the (governing) body of this company,” Nagamootoo had declared.
The National Insurance Scheme (NIS) owns 76% of the total shareholding of the BBCI but government has had little say at the level of the BBCI board because control is skewed in favour of two private investors. NIS has $950 million in preferred shares in the Berbice Bridge and an additional $80 million in ordinary shares. The total investment in the bridge by the NIS is well over $1 billion.
