Cabinet Yet to Be Briefed on BTL Negotiations

Centaur Communications has officially walked away from negotiations for BTL’s proposed acquisition of the Centaur Group of Companies. Why? Political and reputational concerns. In a letter to BTL Chairman Markhelm Lizarraga, Centaur’s Jaime Briceño admitted the deal had commercial and strategic benefits, but says the decision to pull out came after careful reflection. He stressed this wasn’t about money, but about external pressures and the personal toll the talks were taking. And with nearly half of BTL government-owned, we asked Immigration Minister Kareem Musa how the administration is reacting to this latest twist.

 

Kareem Musa, Minister of Immigration

“It’s something  that has been intensely scrutinized, so to speak, not just by the media, but also by civil society. And I was able to see some of the remarks made at the press conference last week. So in terms of the nuts and bolts we have not been briefed on that, but it is expected that at tomorrow’s cabinet, this will be a matter for discussion.”

 

Reporter

“And do you believe that the Cabinet should have been briefed? First being that this is a publicly owned utility.”

 

Kareem Musa

“I’ve heard the remarks of the chairman of BTL saying that it’s a private company, but as you rightly pointed out, it is a government owned private company. And so I believe that we should be very upfront in terms of the information, not just the cabinet, but to the wider public in terms of disclosure, in terms of all of the nuts and bolts. This is a very significant merger, a significant acquisition, I believe a total of one hundred seventy million. And so there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. And so I think that publicly presenting that to get the buy-in from the public is vital that there is a perceived ship of interest, though with the ownership of the companies and BTL? I wouldn’t say so, and I wouldn’t want to speculate on that. I have seen the Prime Minister on numerous occasions actually say that he’s not an owner of the company. His family owns the company, I believe center and has shares in Speed net. And so the Prime Minister has actually recused himself in terms of discussing this matter. And but that is not to say that his family does have an interest in it. I believe his brother, Jaime and his cousin have an interest in the companies.”

 

Reporter

“And would you support such an acquisition?”

 

Kareem Musa

“I can’t say at this point. Like other members of the board, I have questions. I am not at all familiar with the details of the acquisition, aside from the global sum of what it’s gonna cost for the cable companies and for Speednet. And so there are a lot of questions, especially. In the advent of technology and innovation and international competition that I believe our forecasting has to consider.”