Today we asked the Prime Minister about the government end of that deal, and he said he is as pleased as pie:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister
"What's not to like about that? The preference shares…we had agreed to the servicing of the debt at rates that would not give us the return that the preference shares will give us. So, we do not see that we are in anyway selling ourselves or the nation short. But, converting to equity naturally helps the balance sheet of BTL. You know that they are launching this massive national broadband plan. And they have to borrow a great deal of money, I think ultimately like $90 million to ensure that this fiber connectivity to the home blankets the country and will be as successful as one can ever imagine. But in order to attract the loan financing, they needed their balance sheet to look the way it does now, in consequence of the agreement to take that $48 million as debt and instead convert it to equity. We are extremely pleased with what we think is an ingenious way of doing things that does not change the government but that helps the company to, in turn, make this giant leap forward for all Belizeans."
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