We've reported plenty of times on the savings that the Government of Belize realized by re-negotiating Superbond 2.0 -almost 500 million Belize dollars in the first 9 years. It's impressive, but to get that kind of a deal, it's also expensive - principally because Government had to hire international lawyers and financial advisors.
How expensive? Well, Government has released the cost of renegotiating the Superbond - and we can see why the Prime Minister called it "astronomical".
The cost incurred so far is only $1.4 million US dollars, but after the bond offering formally closes sometime next week - that's when the other costs kick in.
Those total up to another $6.5 million US dollars, which is being spent on legal and financial advisors, information agents, contribution to creditor committee costs, and other services. In total, it's about $8 million US dollars. And while that's plenty, the Prime Minister told the media on Wednesday that it pales against the savings that were realized:
Prime Minister Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize
"The cost is, in Belizean terms, astronomical, but when you look at the savings then we realized, it's a price we had to pay. In the larger scheme of things, of course, it's well worth it. On a net basis, we're way ahead of the game, so we're very pleased - we're happy with - look, the legal service came from Cleary Gottlieb Steen. I've now come to realize that the partner, who handled our reconstructing legally Lee Buchheit, is the Dean of restructurings, of sovereign restructurings internationally. Could we have gone for some quasar bush legal and paid less, yeah, but this thing was so critical that we clearly needed the best. I think we've also been well served by our financial adviser, White Oak Advisory."
Closing date is now set for Wednesday March 20th...
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