by Karin Dear

SELLING BARBADOS SHIPPING & TRADING (BS&T) lock, stock and barrel to any bidder has never been on the table, said chairman Sir Allan Fields.

The directors never suggested, and would not promote to their shareholders, that BS&T be sold lock, stock and barrel, he added in an interview last week.

"It is a very valuable, very old Barbadian company and it deserves to survive and grow within the context of CARICOM," said Sir Allan.

The Ansa McAl bid, if and when it came, was a cash offer to purchase shares in BS&T (at $7 per share) from all the shareholders and put them in Ansa McAl 's pockets, he charged.

"That, in my opinion, would only bring very short-term benefits to shareholders who simply saw cash as something great to have. It would not bring any long-term benefits whatsoever to the BS&T shareholders and it would stop us from developing a huge pan-Caribbean company which could do huge things for the shareholders of a combined entity," he said with reference to a proposed merger between BS&T and Trinidad-based Neal & Massy.

Furthermore, when the Fair Trading Commission did its work it would become very obvious that Ansa McAl would have a monopoly in many areas of business in Barbados if it achieved the purchase of BS&T, cautioned Sir Allan.

"They (Ansa McAl) would have a huge monopoly in feed, cooking oil, margarine, food distribution, food retail, pharmaceuticals, and the list goes on and on, so we have to wait and see if they put the offer on the table, what response they get from the Fair Trading Commission," he said.

Of equal importance, Sir Allan added, was the need for the Securities Exchange of Barbados to vet and approve that any communication Ansa McAl proposes to have with the shareholders of BS&T.

"Only then can they communicate with the shareholders of BS&T and only then can they have an offer on the table that will be responded to by the board of directors of BS&T.

"At this time, we have a legally binding document between Neal & Massy and BS&T before the shareholders. If we get the injunction lifted, we will set a date that is appropriate to have a meeting with the shareholders, and the
3 000 shareholders, not the directors, will decide whether they want to merge the companies,"
he added.