The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net THE $10 million Arawak Cay Port Development (APD) initial public offering (IPO) was already oversubscribed prior to the Government offering an interest-free salary advance for civil servants to purchase shares, Tribune Business was told prior to the offering's closure yesterday. Jamaal Stubbs, senior research analyst at CFAL, one of the IPO's placement agents, told Tribune Business: "We weer oversubscribed prior to the government coming in. That speaks to how oversubscribed we are. The Government hasn't provided their listing of those civil servants who took advantage of the offering as yet." Mr Stubbs said he expected a significant amount of subscriptions from within the public service. Tribune Business contacts in the Bahamian capital markets yesterday said that based on information they hd received, more than 3,000 civil servants may have subscribed to the APD offering, although that could not be confirmed. The same sources said the APD IPO was "well, well, well oersubscribed", some suggesting the total worth of all the applications could amount to $15-$20 million. They added that it could be a "record" IPO for the Bahamian capital markets in terms of having the broadest shareholder base. Meanwhile, Mr Stubbs said: "We have continued to receive orders, and things have been going very well. The response has been favourable; people have been taking advantage of the offering. We have gotten orders from all walks of life. We have gotten broad-based support from the Bahamian people in terms of confidence in this deal." Dispelling speculation that public servants would get first preference in the share allocation process, Mr Stubbs said: "Despite the rumours, public servants don't get first preference. Everyone is on the same playing field in terms of how the orders are applied. There is no preference to cvil servants, and no preference to those who came early. "Once all orders are in, the bottom-up process begins. All orders will receive the first 50 shares, and once we apply that across all orders, we would reapply the additional order of 25 shares and constantly repeat the process to get those small orders filled. What's left will be divided up with the larger orders." The $10 million IPO was launched back in December. The Government and private sector have each invested $20 million into the Arawak Cay Port, and once the IPO is completed, the Government and private sector will each own a 40 per cent stake, with the public holding 20 per cent. A $40 million private placement, scheduled for next year, is designed to replace the original line of Royal Bank of Canada credit financing taken out for the construction phase. APD and its financial advisers/placement agents, CFAL and Providence Advisors, had initially hoped to launch the IPO in late September/early October, but discussions between the Government and private sector on how to structure it put it back to a December launch. Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham announced earlier this month that the Government would be providing a salary advance to give civil servants an opportunity to invest in APD's IPO. APD shares are presently valued at $10, and there was a minimum subscription of 50 shares or $500 dollars for the IPO, with additional shares to be purchased in increments of 25.