The Valley, Anguilla – 24 October 2017 – On the 25th August, 2017 the Government of Anguilla (“GOA”) launched the sale of 4,636,100 ordinary shares from its shareholdings in the Anguilla Electricity Company Limited (“ANGLEC”). This share offer period was due to conclude on 25th September 2017. The net proceeds were to be used by the GOA to fund the 2017 national budget, specifically towards the establishment of a Sinking Fund to enable it to meet its debt amortization obligations.
Subsequent to the launch, Anguilla was severely impacted by Hurricane Irma on the 6th of September 2017, which caused widespread damage to communications, utilities and infrastructure. Anguilla was also further affected by Hurricane Maria. As a result of these events, ANGLEC reported significant damage to its generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure that will affect business operations. This constitutes a material development impacting the immediate prospects and future financial projections of the company as was disclosed in the Approved Prospectus of August 08, 2017. A quantifiable assessment of the scale of the impact of Hurricane Irma is however indeterminate at this point.
Under these circumstances, reference is made to ANGLEC’s by-laws, wherein the Officers and Directors have undertaken that they will not trade in any shares of the Company while there is an undisclosed material change (Page 67 of Approved Prospectus). Attention is further drawn to Clause (V) of the Terms, Representations & Warranties of the Issue Subscription (Page 100 of Approved Prospectus) which states that the Offer to subscribe for shares may be rejected by the Company at its sole discretion.
Acting on these provisions, the Government of Anguilla in consultation with the ANGLEC has arrived at a consensus to suspend the Offer of Shares at this time, until further notice.
In the interim, the Government of Anguilla is working with ANGLEC and other partners to use this opportunity to restore and improve ANGLEC’s infrastructure, ensuring future resilience. The Government of Anguilla remains committed to complete the transition of ANGLEC fully to the private sector and to the reduction of our national debt, and will revisit the share sale at the soonest appropriate occasion.
Due to the suspension of the offer prior to allotment, Bank of Saint Lucia acting as Lead Broker and being guided by the terms and conditions of the Subscription Escrow and Trust Account and related Terms, Representations & Warranties of the Issue Subscription will return all application for allotment of shares along with the accompanying funds to investors who would have subscribed for the offer from August 25, 2017 up to the passage of Hurricane Irma.
– Press Release
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
