A publicly traded Bermuda company has joined German investor Harald Fuhrmann in complaining about business practices relating to foreign investors in the Bahamas.
KeyTech, the holding company for the Bermuda Telephone Company is warning investors that it may not be able to recover a $1.26 million loan to Bahamas Data and Media, the firm that produces the Bahamas Golden Pages online and hard copy business directory, after regulatory limits on foreign ownership stymied its plans.
The Bermuda newspaper, The Royal Gazette, reported that KeyTech, the holding company for the Bermuda Telephone Company, had loaned $1.26 million to Bahamas Data and Media with the aim of converting the investment into a “majority equity ownership position” in the company, the former’s annual report said.
However, due to regulatory requirements that Bahamians retain majority ownership in sectors such as retail and wholesale, KeyTech was told by the Exchange Control Department of the Central Bank in March 2003 that its application for majority ownership in Bahamas Data & Media had been denied.
The Tribune newspaper, in The Bahamas, reports that they apparently tried to contact Lemuel Sweeting, publisher of the Bahamas Golden Pages and Second Vice President for the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce, but despite leaving detailed messages the calls were never returned.
