Cable Bahamas has been sold to the Barbados-based Persona Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Persona Incorproated.
This was confirmed by Cable Bahamas Limited in a statement released Wednesday.
The purchase price obligations will be satisfied by a cash payment of $10 million, and the deal with deal also comes with the issuance of 2.8 million common shares of Persona Inc. from treasury.
The control of the company has been transferred from Canadian Philip Keeping to Persona Communications. This transaction, announced in February, subject to regulatory and government approvals saw all of the common shares of Columbus Communications Ltd. transferred to Persona.
Columbus is the controlling shareholder of Cable Bahamas, a publicly traded communications company that operates the cable television systems serving The Bahamas.
Cable Bahamas provides advanced cable television services to more than 55,100 basis subscribers in New Providence, Grand Bahama and 14 Family Islands.
Coincident with this transaction, Mr. Richard W. Pardy and Mr. Gordon MacNab have resigned as directors of Cable Bahamas and its subsidiaries. Meanwhile, Persona has appointed Mr. Gary Kain and Mr. Brendan Paddock to the Board of Directors of Cable Bahamas Ltd. and its subsidiaries. Mr. Keeping, Dr. Keva Bethel, and Mr. I.G. Stubbs remain as members of the Cable Bahamas Board of Directors.
Cable Bahamas is a company established under Bahamian laws. Columbus is the largest shareholder Cable Bahamas with 29.75 percent of the company’ stock. Philip Keeping wholly owns Columbus.
The Bahamas Government owns 20 percent of Cable Bahamas, with Bahamas Electricity Corporation responsible for 10 percent of Cable Bahamas shares and Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation (now Bahamas Telecommunications Company Limited) responsible for the other 10 percent shares. The remaining 50.25 percent of Cable Bahamas is publicly traded on the Bahamas International Securities Exchange, with no entity having a five percent interest in Cable Bahamas.
Over the past five years, total basic subscribers have grown from 4,600 in June 1995 to more than 555,100 as of June 30, 2002. The bi-directional Cable Bahamas Broadband Network is based on switched architecture that facilitates the delivery of specific data and information to any point of presence in the system.
Boasting of a skilled workforce of 217 people, Cable Bahamas provides an array of telecommunications services to residents and businesses in The Bahamas. The company also offers such services as pay-per-view movies and events, NFL Sunday Ticket and DMX’s 40 digital audio services.
Other services provided by the company include:
* CoralWave, the company’s Internet division, provides high speed Internet services via its DOCSIS based cable modem technology.
Caribbean Crossings Ltd. has recently completed a $25 million project resulting in the construction of a sub-sea fibre optic network connecting the northern islands in The Bahamas and the United States through a landing in southern Florida.
Maxil Communications Ltd. also a wholly owned subsidiary, commenced operations late in 2001, and provides international data centre and web hosting facilities.
As of June 2002, CoralWave was providing service to more than 8,100 high-speed Internet subscribers, a 305 percent increase from the 2,000 customers it was serving on August 31, 2001 and a 62 percent increase from the 5,000 Internet customers served in February when the Persona transaction was first announced.
And, based on the current growth trends, the company anticipates approaching the 9,000 Internet subscriber mark by August 31, 2002. Internet revenue per subscriber month exceeds $100 with monthly Internet revenue growing rapidly, breaking through the $700,000 plateau in June 2002.
Over the last year, Cable Bahamas, through Caribbean Crossings Ltd., has built and now operates a fibre optic cable system that provides a high-speed link between the islands of Abaco, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama and New Providence, and Boca Raton, Florida. The company designed and constructed this sub-sea fibre optic link that became operational in the third quarter of 2001. This initiative provides a redundant communications link between the major population centres of The Bahamas and the United States.
Caribbean Crossings Ltd. commenced operations in August 2001
and has seen “dramatic” revenue increase each month. By June 2002, it was producing approximately $2.3 million in annualised revenue.
Cable Bahamas’ sub-sea fibre optic cable system will serve as the basis for the company’s international data centre and e-commerce facility, which was approved by The Bahamas Government in January 2000.
In March 2002, Cable Bahamas challenged the Public Utilities Commission ruling that it may not provide Internet services using “direct fibre”.
In July 2002, Mr. Keeping refuted claims made in the House of Assembly during the BaTelCo privatisation debate, that he was bankrupt when the cable company was launched in 1994.
Mr. Keeping responded: “I financed Cable Bahamas out of my pocket from August, 1994 to June 30, 1995, when we went public to the tune of $1 million a month. I was personally financing the company without any obligations from anyone else.”
In September 2000, Cable Bahamas and the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas (ZNS) locked horns over a $700,000 reconnection fee. However, Cable Bahamas said it would rather have its day in court than pay ZNS the claim.
But on Monday, Cable Bahamas was put on notice that it will indeed pay the monies owed ZNS.
Newly appointed Chairman Calsey Johnson, who was guest speaker on the ZNS radio talk show Immediate Response hosted by Darold Miller insisted that Cable Bahamas “will indeed pay the monies they owe us. They are going to have to pay it.”
