He was already on life support and now Jeffrey Prosser is fading fast. 7NEWS has confirmed that today the Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (RBTT) confirmed to the Government of Belize that Prosser has defaulted on payments to service the US$25 million debt with RBTT. With that default, RBTT now takes over the security that Prosser had pledged to cover the debt.
That security is 30.6% of BTL's share capital, which at current share value is worth about US$31 million. Now 7NEWS is informed that RBTT is not interested in owning a third of BTL, and is looking to sell the shares at a discount. And the only person interested in it is reportedly Michael Ashcroft. The RBTT group will come to Belize next week to discuss the possibilities for a deal, and it seems now that only thing between Ashcroft and those shares is how much of a discount he'll get. If Ashcroft does buy it, he will then control 92% of BTL's shares, as he presently controls 62% of those shares.
We stress the word "control," because he does not own 25% of them, the workers' trust called Sunshine does but Ashcroft retains the voting rights. BTL's workers representative, the Communication Workers Union has said it has no interests in the Sunshine shares if Ashcroft continues to control the voting rights, and it is certain that, with government's blessing, he will. It's notable that if Ashcroft controls 92% of the company he can freely change the articles of association because only 75% ownership is needed to do that.
It's a significant point because Prosser had gone to the Supreme Court to challenge the Ralph Fonseca statutory instrument which changed the articles. Even if that case were to succeed, if Ashcroft owns 92% it wouldn't matter. And beyond all this, it can't go without saying that the reason Prosser owes RBTT US$25 million is because government told him that if he took that over, they would give him a number of concessions, including a guaranteed rate of return. Though Prosser took over the taxpayer guaranteed Godfrey debt, government never came through on its promises which Prosser later sued them for, calling it false inducement to a sale.
