ANSA McAL is offering Barbados Shipping & Trading (BS&T) shareholders a sweetener of sorts in its offer to them for all their shares.

In its Investment Election document, which was released yesterday following its offer of $7 per share to BS&T shareholders, the Trinidadian conglomerate has announced that it has placed 16.97 million of its shares on reserve for Barbadian and Trinidadian holders of BS&T who want to take part of their share value in the form of ANSA McAL shares.

According to the document, the shareholders are being given the right to use up to 50 per cent of their payment for the BS&T shares they agree to sell to the Trinidadian group in the form of ANSA McAL reserve shares.

The Trinidadian group has given TT$48.45 ($15.52) – the last traded price on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange prior to its publicly announced offer on July 6 – as the value of each reserve share it is now offering.

However, ANSA McAL made it clear that this option is solely for the purpose of providing BS&T shareholders with an investment opportunity and, should their $7 per share offer be withdrawn, the option will be automatically voided.

They also said that shareholders did not have to take part of the price for their shares in the form of ANSA McAL shares but were entitled to receive their payment for their BS&T shares completely in cash if they so desired.

In total, there are currently more than 175 million ANSA McAL shares in circulation and last year the profits of the multi-million dollar conglomerate attributed to its shareholders was TT$474 million. (CH)