BY SANDRA CHOUTHI

A majority of shareholders in Barbados Shipping and Trading Company Ltd (BS&T) have accepted Neal & Massy’s buyout offer, lead brokers Republic Securities Ltd said as the offer deadline passed yesterday.

BS&T shareholders had until 5 pm yesterday to submit their completed revised acceptance and transfer form to lead brokers Republic Securities Ltd.

Ian Narine managing director Republic Securities, said that a majority of them have accepted Neal & Massy’s offer.

Narine said Reliance Stockbrokers was collecting transfer forms from different brokerage houses.

“By the end of today, Neal & Massy will have a picture as to how much (shares) they have,” Narine said.

“It is a takeover at the end of the day. They will acquire majority shareholding and treat with it as such.”

Lok Jack on

conglomerate’s

next move

The Barbados Nation reported Neal & Massy chairman Arthur Lok Jack as saying the conglomerate was still evaluating its options and would make a statement about its next move.

Two weeks ago, 42 per cent of outstanding BS&T shares were tendered to Neal & Massy, which brought the company’s BS&T shareholding to 70 per cent.

Neal & Massy’s present offer is (Bds)$8.50 cash for up to 50 per cent of the holdings, and the rest at an exchange ratio of one Neal & Massy share for every 2.75 shares in BS&T.

High court action

Narine said Neal & Massy could accept the offers that have been tendered and be in a position to acquire BS&T.

Asked whether High Court proceedings in Barbados by that country’s Securities and Exchange Commission against Neal & Massy and Ansa McAL Ltd, which had also announced a takeover bid for BS&T, would affect the acquisition of BS&T, Narine said he doesn’t think there’s any injunction in place preventing that process from going forward.

The Barbados SEC began High Court proceedings against both Neal & Massy and Ansa McAL Ltd to determine the validity and legality of the two companies’ transactions.

The Barbados SEC is asking the court to decide whether Ansa McAL broke Barbados law when it withdrew its offer and whether that move is therefore illegal, null and void.

The court is also being asked to determine whether Neal & Massy’s decision to offer its shares to Ansa McAL and subsequently to vary its own offer to BS&T shareholders was also illegal, null and void.

The SEC is also asking the court in Bridgetown to rule on whether the Bds$9.04 price Neal & Massy paid for BS&T stock it purchased on the T&T stock market on September 21 should be applied to all shareholders.