A Bahamian leading a consortium seeking to buy a 49% stake in BaTelCo has generated a "high degree of interest" from insurers and pension fund providers as he bids to raise up to $30 million to help finance his bid, The Tribune can reveal.
Thomas Bain, a Bahamian who was the first black managing director of JP Morgan, the world-famous investment bank, confirmed that he was leading an effort to raise $30 million from Bahamian investors, insurers and pension fund providers.
"It's been an interesting exercise for me, because I don't think anybody knows just how much [money] there is here," Mr Bain told The Tribune in an exclusive interview at The fourth annual Bahamas Investment Conference.
"The Central Bank will talk about the liquidity of the system being a little over $100 million, but we know there's a lot of money in other places, too. The question is really how much of it you can really aggregate. My point today is how you pull it all together."
He added, "We're dealing with two unknowns. The first unknown is how much we can raise, and the second unknown is how much we're going to have to pay for BaTelCo because the auction hasn't started yet."
The Tribune understands the auction process is likely to begin this week, with advertisements offering the corporation for sale to be placed in both international and Bahamian media.
Mr. Bain declined to tell The Tribune how many Bahamians were involved in his bid process and would not provide any names, except to say, "It's not the number, but the amount that matters."
By Samantha Joseph, The Tribune
