FOCOL’s Shareholders Approve $25 Mil Preference Share Offering Shareholders of Freeport Oil Company Limited (FOCOL) approved the company’s decision to raise $25 million dollars through a preference share issue, monies that will be part payment for the acquisition of Shell Bahamas Limited in The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
This decision was taken at FOCOL’s tri-purpose Extraordinary General Meeting held in the company’s board room on Queen’s Highway in Grand Bahama.
Another reason for the EGM was to authorize an increase in capital of the company from $100,000 to $1,000,000 by the creation of an additional 30,000,000 ordinary and 60,000,000 preference shares, each valued at $0.01. And the third reason was to change the company’s name to FOCOL Holdings Limited.
Sir Albert Miller, Chairman of FOCOL’s Board of Directors, said that he was delighted that the EGM went “extremely well and without any opposition whatsoever.”
Sir Albert added, “This indicates that they are very satisfied with their investment and see this proposed acquisition of Shell Bahamas as an extension of their investment. They trust that we know what we are doing and that we will continue to protect their interests as we go forward.”
The name change would also allow the company to take advantage of other business opportunities and acquisitions, without having to hold another EGM, added Sir Albert.
Anthony Robinson, FOCOL’s Managing Director, explained, “We decided to change the name to FOCOL Holdings Ltd. to allow us to market the company on a national and international level. The name FOCOL, more than Freeport Oil, is already known throughout The Bahamas and would be more acceptable to customers in the Family Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI).”
FOCOL’s preference share offering is aimed at raising $25 million dollars, which is part of the purchase price for Shell Bahamas. The offering is a private placement where mostly institutions will be invited to purchase preference shares in blocks of $250,000.
FOCOL has already gone through the preliminary open bidding process and beat out several local and international bidders for the acquisition of Shell Bahamas operations.
Mr Robinson said that FOCOL’s advantages included the fact that the company had already purchased Shell’s propane business in Grand Bahama in 2002, in a transaction that went “very well.” Additionally, FOCOL was the only full Bahamian-owned company involved in several aspects of the petroleum business, namely, importation, jet and aviation fuel, gasoline and diesel.
“So we have experience in the business that was important to Shell and we had good relations. Also, as a publicly-traded company with a base of about 1,800 shareholders, which placed us in a good position to raise necessary funds for the purchase,” Mr Robinson explained further.
FOCOL went public in 1999 with a share price of $5. Today, FOCOL’s shares are trading at $10 per share. The company has consistently paid quarterly dividends and this continues to be good news for FOCOL’s investors.
Mr Robinson said, “We are honoured that they trust us with their investment and we are pleased with the results that we’ve generated for them thus far.”
Stating that the Shell brand is one of the best in the world, Mr Robinson said that they plan to keep the Shell in New Providence but plan to improve on the execution of the brand in the marketplace. “We want to entice the Bahamian public to give Shell the support that we believe the brand is capable of delivering.”
Mr Robinson added that some 1,200 of FOCOL’s shareholders are from New Providence and it would only make for good business for them to start purchasing a product that they have invested in, because it is the easiest way to ensure that they continue to receive dividends.
Source: The Bahama Journal
