by HEATHER-LYNN EVANSON

THE BATTLE for Barbados Shipping and Trading (BS&T) is over.

That's the word coming from the parties involved in the civil suit arising from one of the island's biggest take-over battles.

In an afternoon
closed-door session before Justice Elneth Kentish in the No. 2 Supreme Court yesterday, attorneys for the Securities Commission of Barbados, Trinidadian companies ANSA McAL and Neal & Massy, the Barbados Stock Exchange and Barbados Shipping
& Trading, met to resolve the issue which had
been before the court
since last November.

The Securities Commission had asked the High Court to determine
if any laws were broken in the bidding war for local conglomerate BS&T.

In addition, it had also asked the court to rule
on the legality of two developments involving the bidders – the "purported withdrawal"
of ANSA McAL's takeover bid and the implications
of Neal & Massy's announcement that it was tendering, to rival ANSA McAL, the BS&T shares
it already held.

The court was also being asked to rule on the validity of Neal & Massy's last offer to purchase for cash up to 50 per cent of each shareholder's holding.

Yesterday afternoon, when the parties emerged, attorneys would only
say the matter had
been settled.

However, a release
from the Securities Commission, which came through the office of Queen's Counsel Alair Shepherd, said the
action brought against
the two Trinidadian companies "had been resolved on terms acceptable to all parties".

"All claims by and against ANSA McAL and Neal & Massy have been resolved and the
cease-trade orders have been lifted, thereby paving the way for Neal & Massy to take up and pay for the shares of the Barbados Shipping and Trading.

"All parties have made the necessary concessions to reach a compromise
and have taken fully into account the overriding need to safeguard
the capital market
of Barbados and ensure
that all shareholders
are treated equally,"
it further stated.

The terms of settlement were recorded as an order of the court.