The Bahamas’ Ministry of Finance has invited proposals from financial groups to advise the government on the sale of a 9% tranche of its shares in Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC). Earmarked for completion before the next election in May 2012, the state hopes that the initial public offering (IPO) will boost activity at the Bahamas stock exchange, which has languished over the last year. The sale will see the government reduce its stake in the incumbent operator from 49% to 40%, Cable and Wireless Communication (CWC) owns the remaining 51%.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, privatisation of BTC started in 1998 and was only completed in April 2011, when CWC finalised the purchase of 51% of the telco. BTC enjoys a monopoly on wireless operations and served 475,000 customers at end-March 2011.
