While Jeffrey Prosser and Michael Ashcroft battle government for control of BTL, a significant new player has entered the field. It's a company called Sunrise, wholly Belizean owned and the company bosses are all present or former BTL executives. They yesterday told the Prime Minister that they are ready to make a deal happen now. The company is owned by BTL's current CEO Gaspar Aguilar, current Head of Business Development and Marketing Karen Bevans and former head of network service Roberto Young.
According to our information, the group has obtained a promise of credit from the First Caribbean Bank, which is ready to step in with the US$57 million to pay for the Carlisle shares. Only thing is that Prosser and Ashcroft have those shares locked up in legal battles stretched across two continents. Still, according to our reports, Aguilar, Bevans and Young told the Prime Minister that they are willing to wait until the matter is settled to come through with the money. Sunrise's plan would be for the three principals and BTL employees to become the owners of in BTL. The plan presented to the Prime Minister details that the employees would be enlisted in a trust fund, which would own shares in Sunrise, which would be the holding company that owns BTL. Later on, the Belizean public would be offered the opportunity to buy shares.
The Sunrise owners also indicated to the Prime Minister that they would not ask for a Jeff Prosser like guaranteed rate of return, nor would they request any of the various concessions that the Prime Minister made to Prosser, including imposing a floor on International calls and outlawing a fixed service license for Speednet.
While we wait to see it in print, it has all the appearances of a favorable proposal with sound backing and know how. But it's still very far from realized. As we noted, the ownership of BTL is being litigated in Miami and London, due completely to what can only be described as Government's completely inept and thoroughly duplicitous management of the BTL buyout from Michael Ashcroft. Still, if and when the legal disputes are settled and if government can get off without having the shares revert to either Prosser or Ashcroft which are very big 'if's' the Prime Minister has said that the Government's choice is to sell BTL to Belizeans.
To our knowledge, this new group is the only Belizean company wholly owned and headquartered in Belize that has presented itself and a plan thus far.
