7 News Belize

Dispute Between BSI Shareholders?
posted (July 8, 2015)

3 months from now American Sugar Refinery will have been the majority shareholder in the Belize Sugar Industries Limited for 3 years. Viewers may know that this is the company which owns the factory, which then mill the cane from the farmers after they have been delivered.

They came into the picture as a strategic investor who bought out the company's indebtedness of 64.8 million US dollars to the Netherland financiers in exchange for 78.6% equity in the company's shares. They bought out a significant portion of the shares owned by the BSI Employee's Holdings Limited. So, they went from being a majority shareholder to a minority shareholder.

Well the BSI Employee's Holdings Limited, and the Belize Workers Union, to which the employees belong as members, are both complaining that since ASR became the boss of the factory and the company, they have refused to release any financial statements of profits made in the past 2 crop years. The employees say that they were given an assurance by the company and by the Government – which facilitated the deal – that prior arrangements in relation to the declaration of dividends and the payment of additional bonuses if profits meet certain thresholds will remain as they were before ASR.

The Union and the Employee's Holding say that for the last 2 years, ASR has refused to give them a copy of the company's financials, and they strongly believe that the profits have been significant during the last 2 crop seasons. They say that they've requested information numerous times from the ASR bosses at Belize Sugar Industries Limited, but they've been met with repeated failures, and so they must now go to the Supreme Court.

The Union says, quote, "This has left us no other recourse than to firstly advise the general public of our plight, and then to pursue legal action to secure a financial report as is due to any shareholder in the Company." End quote.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize