The work week is done and the sale of BTL is still not closed and now it appears that what Finance Minister Hon. Ralph Fonseca called "lawyering" is taking a lot longer than had been hoped.
There has been no official comment from government and unofficially we are told that the deal is stalled.
What's the holdup? Well according to our sources ICC's executives are trying to make sure they are buying into a viable situation and that means asking government for concessions that will ensure that BTL remains at least very profitable. Government is hard pressed to grant those concessions but even more hard pressed to repay the $114 million it borrowed to facilitate the sale. That's because the 9.75% interest on this money continues to rack up making the money and the deal more costly with every day that passes.
At this point government is now one day past its make or break 30 day due diligence extension. And Finance Minister Fonseca has gone on record to say that if its doesn't go through - government will have to resort to 'Plan B' and re-sell the shares to Carlisle Holding's Michael Ashcroft. By Monday there should be some development on this front.