Government issues a Notice of Privatisation of BTC

Nassau, Bahamas  - In an advertisement published today in several domestic and international publications, the Government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas issued a Notice of Privatisation and announced the launch of the process to sell a 51% stake in The Bahamas Telecommunications Company Ltd. The Notice encourages interested parties to participate in the registration and pre-qualification process.

The text of the advertisement follows:

 REQUEST FOR REGISTRATION OF INTERESTED PARTIES FOR THE PRIVATISATION OF THE BAHAMAS TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY LTD.

The Government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas (the "Government")is seeking a partner to acquire a 51% shareholding, including operational control, in The Bahamas Telecommunications Company Ltd. ("BTC" or the "Company"), incorporated under the laws of The Bahamas.

The Company currently provides services to over 334,000 wireless (through its GSM and CDMA networks), 132,000 fixed line and 18,500 broadband customers throughout The Bahamas. In addition, BTC has some190 roaming agreements in place serving the more than 4 million tourists who visit the Bahamas each year.

Given the importance of the telecommunications industry to The Bahamas and its economy, the Government seeks a strategic partner in BTC, who is able to demonstrate that they can bring many, if not all of the following attributes to BTC:

• Strong reputation in the telecommunications industry,
• Ability and commitment to generate value-added revenue and cost synergies with BTC operations,
• Financial strength and operational platform to be able to enhance BTC's underlying network, services, billing and customer service, and
• A history of strong financial performance.

Interested parties are invited to register for the privatization process of BTC through the submission of a registration form (the "Registration Form") and the payment of a processing fee of US$25,000 (the "Registration Fee") on or before 15:00 hours (EST) on July 28, 2009.

Upon submitting the Registration Form, parties will be supplied with a document describing the investment opportunity. Once the payment of the Registration Fee is confirmed, interested parties will receive a pre-qualification package ("the Pre-Qualification Package") with additional details on the process and a list of information requirements on the interested parties for evaluation by the Government. All duly completed applications for pre-qualification must be submitted on or before August 14, 2009. Should the relevant party not be chosen by the Government to move forward to the due diligence phase of the process, the Registration Fee will be refunded. However, if and when a participant is invited to the due diligence process, this fee will become non-refundable.

Qualified parties will be invited to participate in the due diligence phase, giving them access to a data room, financial vendor due diligence report, technical due diligence report, management presentation and site visits. After the due diligence phase, investors/consortiums will be invited to submit binding bids for the stake in BTC.

The Government reserves the right, in their sole discretion, to reject or accept any Registration Form, Pre-Qualification Package or other document received pursuant to this privatisation process; and/or to consider, accept or reject any application on the basis of the criteria set out above and in the Pre-Qualification Package; to extend the deadline for the submission of the Registration Form and/or pre-qualification information and for any other action to be taken.

Source: http://www.btcprivatization.com/