By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
The Government has been seeking to finance its impending acquisition of UBS House via a $20 million bond issue to Bahamian investors, Tribune Business can reveal.
Providence Advisors, the boutique investment house and advisory firm, has in recent weeks been testing the capital markets’ appetite for financing the Christie administration’s purchase via the placement of debt securities.
Tribune Business understands that the $20 million issue, if placed, would carry an interest rate coupon of 5.5 per cent, thus offering investors a slight premium to the Bahamian Prime rate.
The bonds would also have a 15-year maturity, with the repayment of investor principal at the end of that term financed by a ‘sinking fund’, into which a portion of rental payments received from UBS House tenants will go.
Financing now appears to be the major obstacle to closing the Government’s acquisition of UBS (Bahamas) headquarters building on East Bay Street, in a deal that includes the purchase of the ‘annex’ building and vacant land stretching all the way to Shirley Street.
The closing date, which has been extended several times, and was originally scheduled for February this year, is now set for mid-October, Tribune Business was told yesterday.
However, contacts familiar with the transaction suggested that Providence Advisors had now been asked to “stand pat”, and “hold off” on their fund-raising drive - suggesting that the Government may be exploring alternative financing mechanisms.
Kenwood Kerr, Providence Advisors’ chief executive, was not available for comment prior to press time last night, despite several messages being left for him.
Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s acting financial secretary, was said to have been in a meeting when Tribune Business called, and did not return the message left for him.
“As far as I know, the deal is still on,” one source familiar with the UBS House transaction said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It has been pulled back a couple of times.”
One of the delays related to concerns that the parking lot for UBS House and its annex building had extended beyond the stipulated boundaries, a situation that has now been resolved. Lennox Paton is the law firm representing UBS (Bahamas) in the sale, while the Government’s interests are being looked after by Graham, Thompson & Company.
Tribune Business understands that, if the acquisition goes through, UBS House and the surrounding property will be owned by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) specifically created for this transaction.
The SPV will be owned by the Public Treasury, but its creation will allow the Government to hold the $20 million debt financing ‘off balance sheet’, meaning that it will not add to the $6.778 billion national debt.
The SPV will also have a Board of Directors that is independent from the Government, this newspaper understands.
John Rolle, the former financial secretary, confirmed both the Government’s interest in UBS House and the SPV structure to Tribune Business last year, adding that the latter might be used for other real estate purchases.
He said the acquisition of UBS House and affiliated properties was part of a wider strategy to reduce the Government’s costs associated with leasing property.
It typically rents, rather than owns, its real estate, and the UBS deal effectively indicates a change of plan with regard to the Government’s property management strategy as it seeks to save dollars wherever it can, due to the strained fiscal position.
“It is in keeping with the need to meet the longer-term accommodation needs of the public sector, recognising that the Government expends considerable financial resources each year on office leases,” Mr Rolle said last year.
He initially described the transaction and resulting ownership change as “a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement to be kept at, and managed in, a professional and arm’s length fashion”.
However, in a subsequent e-mail, the now-Central Bank governor told Tribune Business: “It is more accurate to say that the Government is sponsoring a vehicle to purchase property.
“The assigned income from the leases will pay for the property...... Details will be published in due course.”
UBS (Bahamas) had been seeking more than $22 million for its three-storey, 33,000 square foot headquarters building and two other properties combined. The $20 million that Providence Advisors was seeking to raise indicates the Government’s offer is near that figure.
If the deal closes, this will be the second international bank whose Bahamian head office has been taken over by the Government. The Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Finance are now based in the ex-SG Hambros Bank & Trust premises.
It is uncertain which government ministries and offices will be relocated to UBS House should the purchase go through, although Tribune Business was last year told that the Securities Commission was one potential tenant.
UBS House was initially marketed by Bahamas Realty as a three-storey trophy office building with a total rental area of 33,162 square feet, and a 240 space car park.
UBS Annex, which sits at the rear of the bank’s corporate office on East Bay Street, was marketed as a ‘two-storey, class A’ office building with 23,544 square feet of office space and 162 car parking spaces.
The total area consists of about 56,876 square feet or 1.31 acres, with 247.8 linear feet of frontage on to Shirley Street.
Comments
sheeprunner12 7 years, 7 months ago
Soooooooo, who owned or owns this building that the government wants to bail out now???? Can we afford another public building when at least five prominent public buildings are in dire need of renovation or demolition?????? .............. WHY????????
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 7 months ago
The bank owns it, possibly divesting themselves of all physical ties to the Bahamas
observer2 7 years, 7 months ago
OK, lets see. The government has gross annual revenues of $2 billion but can't find $20 million to purchase a lousy building?
Ok, lets see. Why would the government want to purchase another old and tired building in the first place? With all the vacant office space from all the offshore banks leaving town they could easily rent space?
Ok, lets see. Since the government keeps all their buildings in a very nasty state (e.g. post office and ministry of education etc.) why would they want to own and manage another building and keep that nasty as well? Understand the A/c at the South Beach clinic hasn't been working for ages.
Fidelity and Providence will be pulled out of government bond issuance because they provide feedback to the public on exactly what is going on. Once Rolle starts issuing bonds from within the Central Bank we won't know the rate of bond issuance until we wake up one day and the national debt is over $8 billion.
Besides Rolle needs to issue a bunch of new bonds to re-capitalize BoB. How much is needed to recapitalize the Bank of the Web Shops? $40 million? $60 million? We will never know.
Bahamian investors need to wake up and really consider the risk involved in purchasing government bonds which are rated one notch above junk.
I guess Bahamians will find out like they did with BoB stock, BoB preferred stock, Cable Bahamas stock and soon to be joining the list Cable Bahamas pref stock...once the dividends are halted but the price on BISX hasn't changed...and suddenly one day the price collapses and Davies has nothing to say.
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 7 months ago
Don't forget the bond issue proposed for clico.
Greentea 7 years, 7 months ago
That is not a 20 million dollar property!!!!!! This is pure BS!
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 7 months ago
Another bank preparing for a quick exit
banker 7 years, 7 months ago
This is the 4th SPV or Special Purpose Vehicle that keeps the government debt off the balance sheet. However it is just an accounting trick, and taxpayer money is really behind all of this. This is sickening. They are spending money like drunken sailors on shore leave.
Reading between the lines, the very interesting thing is that John Rolle is changing his story. He has become ethically challenged in his new job. As a non sequitor, I used to read his analysis reports from the Central Bank when he was talking about money supply multipliers. His reports were pure bosh. Talking about p-values on money supply (which is meaningless) when his statistics knowledge comes from a "Statistics For Dummies" book.
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 7 months ago
Interesting a friend made the same statement this morning about SPVs, they said "this is how Enron hid their debt"
Well_mudda_take_sic 7 years, 7 months ago
No matter what the corrupt Christie-led government may think or say, the debt (bond issues) associated with all of these so called government controlled special purpose vehicles (SPVs) is treated as being on the government's balance sheet in the back-of-the-envelope calculations done by Moody's, S&P and others when determining the national debt and debt to GDP ratio of the Bahamas. Christie, Halkitis et al. all know this to be true. This includes Bahamas Resolve, CLICO bond issue, etc. etc.
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 7 months ago
"Tribune Business understands that, if the acquisition goes through, UBS House and the surrounding property will be owned by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) specifically created for this transaction."
Enron was formed in 1985 by Kenneth Lay after merging Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth. Several years later, when Jeffrey Skilling was hired, he developed a staff of executives that, BY THE USE OF accounting loopholes, SPECIAL PURPOSE ENTITIES and poor financial reporting, were able to HIDE billions of dollars in debt FROM FAILED DEALS AND PROJECTS.
Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow and other executives not only misled Enron's board of directors and audit committee on high-risk accounting practices, but also pressured Andersen to ignore the issues....Many executives at Enron were indicted for a variety of charges and some were later sentenced to prison. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron...">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron...
observer2 7 years, 7 months ago
The Enron SPV analogy is appropriate.
The Government is under pressure from international agencies to divest and privatize many of its functions but is reluctant to do so and therefore is taking numerous half steps such as BPL and Newco (Cable SPV) that fools no one and will fail.
The SPVs is a rouse to fool wealthy Bahahamians to invest large amounts of money with the PLP. Like the airport, Bahamasair, water and sewerage etc. they will all fail and rich Bahamians will loose their investment.
Sickened 7 years, 7 months ago
The PLP has destroyed the middle class. Now they're going after the rich? Jesus... what will be left?
B_I_D___ 7 years, 7 months ago
It's already an old building...will be total crap and worthless inside of 3-4 years if the government get their hands on it.
John 7 years, 7 months ago
In the US a family can have a three bedroom two bath house or apartment fully ariconditioned, electronic gates and garage doors, the biggest flat screen tv's and other electronic devices and their electric bill would not be more than $100 a month. The same home or apartment in the Bahamas would run $400-$600 a month. The family in the US house will be fully air conditioned and cooled 24/7. The family in the Bahamas will only have a/c on in the bedrooms at night or other parts of the house when occupied. Light bill is 4-6 times what it is in the US. When you drive up to the gas pump here you are paying $4.29 for a gallon of gas. In the US gas is under $2.20 a gallon. When gas went down in the US by 20 cents, it went UP here by 30 cents plus. And because the grade of gas sold here is lower than the US your consumption can be twice as high. Bottom line: the real price of gas in this country is $7 - $8 a gallon. When you go in the food store it will take $300 - $400 to buy the same amount of groceries $100 can buy in the US and if you purchase a new vehicle the price is sometimes double that of the US price. Putting all the differences aside that the US is a producing nation the bottom line is that most of the excesses in prices are due to taxes. Taxes that go to an inefficient government, a non -accounting government and a government that was proven to be corrupt. Yet when foreign companies come here to operate they are given exemptions to the same taxes Bahamians are expected to pay and given concessions on top of that. So while the foreign company can realize profits, bag them up and take them back to their home country, the Bahamian company has to pay more than their fair share of taxes and can barely see a profit, if any. The Bahamian consumer is then saddled with unusually high prices and therefore cannot enjoy the same standard of living his counterpart can enjoy in other parts of the world. An unusually high number of poor or impoverished citizens is created who become dependent on the government. Because of the level of dissatisfaction and hopeless created in society because of economic discrimination and exclusion crime increases. A level of crime that only the elite can escape. The country becomes lawless.
bogart 7 years, 7 months ago
Financial Services being the second pillar of our economy which employs over ten thousand plus skilled workers banking , insurances, actuariees, computer financial programmers, auditors etcetc with first tertiary education, skilled Trust workers have languished because the hotel tourism have usurped the headlines. IT HAS BEEN A TOTAL EMBARRASSMENT THAT AS A MAJOR FINANCIAL PLAYER FOR DECADES THAT THE BAHAMAS BANKERS HAVE HAD TO INVITE VISITING DIGNATOIES HOST INTERNAIONL CONFERENCES AT WHICHEVER HOTEL CONFERENCE ROOM HAS THE LOWEST RATES AND WHEN VISITING MAJOR FINANCIAL MOVER AND DELEGATES ARE SHOWN LOCAL OFFICES OF THE COUNTRIES FINANCIAL OFFICES THEY HAVE TO BE SHOWN THE LITTLE WOODEN BUILDING NEXT TO BALCONY HOUSE WHERE BANKERS CLASSES ARE HELD AND THE LITTLE TOILET ROOM WHERE THE TOILET FALLING THROUGH THE FLOOR. THANK GOODNESS THEY HAVE MOVED TO BETTER ACCOMODATIONS OPPOSITE PMH. It is time that our Bahamaland can try to have better accomodations where we can have proper national financial centre with parking. This centre can also have rented offices for banks perhaps sharing the latest IT and facilities saving costs and can be a marketing platform to revive our financial sector, hosting major meetings, perhaps some arbitration and a centre for the Caribbean. Of course major clean up of local financial sector is needed investigations, public meetings to discuss errant banking policies, alleged money laundering as the alleged fraud case in COB, Central Bank, derisking, role and responsibilities of Board of Directors of all Banks, bankers, high interest rates, banking policies, customers screwed by banks, our national pride and showcase Bank of the Bahamas. We should pay attention to the Wells Fargo situation to see how to solve problems if we do not know.
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 7 months ago
The government will probably face many of the challenges sandals faced, rodents, plumbing, roof issues, mold, those are common problems in aging buildings. The government has lots of prime property all over the island, why not put up a new building on one of those properties? One that probably could have been built for less than 15-40 million, because by the time they finish all the repair work and fittings, and "award" the "no bid" contract, that price tag will balloon three fold, as per the usual.
bogart 7 years, 7 months ago
Sandals building structure is from the 60's. The govt's instinct to get the most for its few dollars usually winds up with a great probability of some contractor taking a cheap turn as in many of the structures built. However in acquiring buildings from the private sector or renting there seems to be fewer problems. Some structures like the RoyWest bldg, BOB shirley st, Shirley st theatre, Immigration bldg, seem to have held up quite fine, In the international arena, you are also judged by the way you dress and it is long overdue that our Bahamaland have a proper Bahamian National Financial Centre. We still have around 250 of the world's major banks located here.
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 7 months ago
Rodents, roof issues, plumbing. I'm going to bet that most of the world considers us overdressed dummies. Trappings are nice if you have the foundation, without foundation trappings make you look more foolish. I understand investors have very little regard for our leadership and they're fully aware of their love of money. I don't think the building on east bay will change that outlook.
Sickened 7 years, 7 months ago
You think Pindling's son is the realtor on this as well?
Well_mudda_take_sic 7 years, 7 months ago
If not Leslie Pindling, it will be Christie's son....the able one who has been annointed the government's realtor of choice in transactions involving Perry's Chinese friends!
Socrates 7 years, 7 months ago
This building will be a crack house in 10 years.. a delapidated, rundown, shabby monument to the government and people of the Bahamas just like most of the other government buildings. Of course, such a situation would then provide an excuse to give no-insurance, BAMSI type contractors, some handouts...
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