…Nand Persaud lone local firm to bid

NAND Persaud & Co Ltd is the lone registered local company that tendered bids for the privatisation of the Enmore, Skeldon and Rose Hall Estates; however, it did so in partnership with Guygulf International Trading Development Industrial and Financial LLC, which has ties to the Middle East.

Nand Persaud and its partner are the only companies that bid for all three of the estates. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) is the International Financial Services Provider selected to conduct the valuation of all assets under control of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo); this is in addition to providing other advisory and financial services. PWC disclosed on Friday that three bids were tendered for the Rose Hall Estate. Submissions were made by Guygulf International Trading Development Industrial and Financial LLC and Nand Persaud, Industrial Equipment Sales and Service Incorporation (IESS) and Kadem Sugars Inc.

In addition to Nand Persaud and its partner, D Rampersaud and Co. Ltd, submitted bids for the Skeldon Estate. Enmore Estate was bid for by Nand Persaud and its partner, as well as by Liberty Investments Inc.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (Jamaica) Managing-Director Wilfred Baghaloo, on Thursday had indicated that a total of 10 bids were submitted to the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) for privatisation of the state-owned estates; but the information released by the company on Friday contradicted Baghaloo’s statements.

It was subsequently explained however that while 10 envelopes with bids were opened at the close of the bidding process on Wednesday, some of the envelopes may have included duplication of bids. Based on the information released by PWC on Friday, a total of seven (7) bids were submitted for consideration.

Baghaloo also told reporters on Thursday, that U.S. a company registered in Florida with links to the Middle East, was the only international company that submitted bids.
However, based on the information disclosed by PWC, Nand Persaud & Co. is the lone Guyanese company that participated in the process – the other companies hail from the U.S. and Trinidad and Tobago with ties to other countries.

Based on research done by the Guyana Chronicle, Guygulf International Trading Development Industry and Financial Holding, LLC, was registered in the State of Florida on April 25, 2018 – some six months ago. The company is reportedly linked to the Gulf International Trading Group, which is considered to be the Middle East’s most innovative trading company.

“Headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, Gulf International Trading Group was founded with the foresight that tremendous growth in the Region must be facilitated by ecologically friendly building solutions to promote only the highest quality of sustainable development,” the company’s website states.

D. Rampersaud and Co. Ltd, however, is a Trinidad third-generation company established about 50 years ago. According to the company’s website, initially, it provided a wide range of automotive parts and associated engineering services. Today, it has expanded within the automotive and transport sectors of Trinidad and the wider Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Region.

Industrial Equipment Sales & Service (IESS), on the other hand, has been engaged in the supply of high-quality products and services to the oil and gas industry in western North Dakota for over 10 years.
Kadem Sugars Inc. website was “under construction.” As such, information was not readily available. However, the Guyana Chronicle understands that its representatives who visited Guyana earlier this year to inspect the estates hail from Trinidad and Tobago and India. This newspaper was unable to verify information on Liberty Investments Inc.

According to the PWC (Jamaica) managing-director, the company will commence the process of analysing the huge quantum of data contained in many of the bids. “Our first set is to ensure the bids comply with the instructions provided in the information memorandum,” the Jamaican national posited.

The information memorandums were sold to bidders at a cost of US$1000 and gave potential bidders automatic access to three virtual data rooms that contained information and data about the Enmore, Skeldon and Rose Hall Estates. A total of 12 information memorandums were sold; however, only seven bids were submitted.
Baghaloo explained that the technical proposal, which forms part of the bid, carries 70 per cent of the score; the remaining 30 per cent focuses on the price or valuation and the economics to the country.

Criteria for the technical proposal include information on the financial capacity of the bidder; experience in the sugar industry; quality of corporate governance; quality of management; extension programmes for cane farmers; timing of attaining full capacity; quality of development plans and development plansand linkages with and support of other industries within the country.

Baghaloo said it is important for the government to secure the best possible deals.
“The primary objective of the government is to get a qualified, experienced, competent and well-structured proposal to operate the factories for the foreseeable future; and that is why the technical component is more weighted in the scoring process,” the PricewaterhouseCoopers managing-director explained.

Before bidding for the three estates, the bidders were informed that the estates must remain in the “cane industry,” though not necessarily in the sugar industry.
“As you know, cane is a grass. It is a big grass and so you can use the cane for many things: cosmetics, molasses, liquid sugar, bagasse, energy, cogeneration plants, it could be used for many things. But we want it to remain in the cane industry because we want the lands to remain in some form of agriculture,” he posited.

Weighing in on the matter, SPU Privatisation Specialist Shawn Persaud explained that it is government’s intention to have the ex-sugar workers incorporated into the privatisation arrangement; as such, the requirement to remain within the cane industry was put in place.

Long before the bids were closed, a number of potential bidders had expressed a number of concerns, including regulations needed to ensure fair competition; competition with government; the functionality of the factories; and access to markets currently served by GuySuCo.

“The industry has been primarily government-owned and what we are doing is privatising a part of the industry. So there are six factories: three remain with the government and three we are trying to hand to the private sector. So the private sector’s natural concern is how am I going to compete with government? How we will compete with government in terms of access to market; how will we compete with government in terms of access to cane variety?” Baghaloo explained.

He noted too that the bidders were concerned too with the functionality of the factories. The potential buyers were concerned about whether they were being asked to buy scrap metal, versus a potential growing concern.

Notwithstanding the concerns raised and the request to extend the bidding process, Baghaloo said he is pleased with the response. He noted that within seven days, the first review of bid documents will be completed.

The entire process is expected to be completed within 30 days. Once that is completed, he said PricewaterhouseCoopers no later than 30 days will make recommendations to the Steering Committee and NICIL. NICIL will then make the necessary recommendations to Cabinet.