Foundation donates US$38,000 to purchase thermal sensing unit

Tuesday, January 06, 2015 | 6:32 PM    

NEW YORK (JIS) – The Vincent HoSang Family Foundation (VHFF) has donated US$38,000 to purchase a walk-through thermal sensing unit to be installed at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston as part of Jamaica’s Ebola preparedness and response activities.

The cheque presentation, which took place on December 22, followed an appeal by the Jamaican Consulate in New York, which is spearheading the Jamaica Ebola Prevention Programme’s response activities in the Diaspora.  

“After hearing the Jamaican Consulate’s appeal…outlining the urgency for Jamaica’s preparedness against the Ebola virus, it resonated with me,” said Vincent HoSang, Chairman of the VHFF.

The donation will cover the cost of one of five thermal scanning machines needed.  

“The Jamaica Ebola Prevention Programme calls for the urgent procurement of several items, including five state-of-the-art thermal scanning machines,” Jamaica’s Consul General, Herman LaMont said.

 “The Consulate is extremely appreciative and thankful that the VHFF has responded to the call for assistance,” he added.

LaMont said he is particularly thrilled that the Diaspora can join forces with corporate Jamaica to fight the threat of the deadly Ebola virus.  

The donation is the third of its kind, as two similar thermal scanning machines are earmarked for the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay and the Falmouth Cruise Ship Complex in Trelawny, donated by Jamaica-based Sagicor Insurance Group and Supreme Ventures, respectively.

The VHFF is Jamaican-owned and is an affiliate of food company Caribbean Food Delights.

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Foundation donates US$38,000 to purchase thermal sensing unit

Winfresh suspends purchase of bananas from Dominica

Tuesday, January 06, 2015 | 2:29 PM    

ROSEAU, Dominica (CMC) – Winfresh (UK) Ltd, the fruit importer and distributor, has suspended the purchase of bananas from Dominican farmers because of the quality of the fruit being shipped from the island, the President of the National Fair Trade Organization (NFTA), Charles Watty has said.

Watty said that over the past few weeks, Winfresh has been concerned about the quality of the fruit and the fact that Dominica does not have a proper management of the Black Sigatoka, a leaf-spot disease of banana plants caused by the ascomycete fungus Mycosphaerella fijiensis.

“As a result of that you have uneven ripening of the fruits. So as a result of that during the course of December, Winfresh has suspended all the core farmers of Dominica …and as a result you only find yourself shipping just about roughly two pallets of bananas.

“But we have been working with the officials from Winfresh on the ground in Dominica to get these farmers reinstated at the earliest possible opportunity,” he said.

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Winfresh suspends purchase of bananas from Dominica

Sagicor to purchase Hilton Rose Hall hotel

Sagicor Group has reached agreement with Blackstone Group to purchase the 487 room Hilton Rose Hall Hotel in Montego Bay.

The deal is expected to be completed at the end of  this month.
It would be Sagicor’s fourth hotel acquisition, and will be purchased through its Sagicor Real Estate X Fund subsidiary.

The hotel will be rebranded under the company’s Jewel Resort. The price for the property has not been disclosed.

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Sagicor to purchase Hilton Rose Hall hotel

Sagicor to purchase Hilton Rose Hall hotel

Sagicor Group has reached agreement with Blackstone Group to purchase the 487 room Hilton Rose Hall Hotel in Montego Bay.

The deal is expected to be completed at the end of  this month.
It would be Sagicor’s fourth hotel acquisition, and will be purchased through its Sagicor Real Estate X Fund subsidiary.

The hotel will be rebranded under the company’s Jewel Resort. The price for the property has not been disclosed.

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Sagicor to purchase Hilton Rose Hall hotel

Sagicor Bank triples capital base on RBC purchase

Sagicor Bank Jamaica (SBJ) nearly tripled its capital base with the acquisition of RBC Bank Jamaica.

The commercial bank — now the third largest in the country by assets — had $13 billion in equity at the end of June, according to latest Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) data. The capital base stood at $4.8 billion three months prior.

CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (Jamaica) had $970 million more equity than SBJ as at June 30, but Sagicor’s commercial bank jumped from sixth to fourth in terms of equity.

However, SBJ had $15 billion more assets and $19 billion more customer deposits that CIBC’s Jamaican operations.

National Commercial Bank of Jamaica (NCB) leads the market in terms of assets, capital and loan portfolio, followed by Bank of Nova Scotia for all three measures.

The latest central bank data lumped SBJ with a deficit of $8.9 billion for the prior year. It was based on the difference of RBC’s $10.2 billion deficit and SBJ’s earning at $1.2 billion as at March 2014.

Sagicor did not respond to Observer queries on the reported deficit up to print time, but the unappropriated profits for the year to June 30 stood at $1.8 billion.

In June, Sagicor Group Jamaica (SGJ) President Richard Byles told shareholders that the full integration of RBC Bank Jamaica and SBJ would take about two years. He added that the acquisition would capture the “imagination” of executives over the period.

SBJ’s deposits stood at some $55 billion as at June 30, up from $14.7 billion three months earlier in March 2014– the acquisition added $38.9 billion in deposits from RBC while an additional $1.5 billion was added independent of the acquisition.

Sagicor announced in January that it would acquire RBC bank for $9 billion which closely reflected the book value of the Jamaica operations.

Royal Bank of Canada stated that it would take a CAD$60 million ($5.9 billion) loss on the sale of its Jamaican operations to SGJ.

It later upgraded that loss to CAD$100 million in total.

The local RBC operations recorded over $9 billion in losses over the past four-and-a- half years mainly due to bad debts.

The lack of profitability prompted RBC Jamaica‘s parent to inject close to $5 billion into it in exchange for new ordinary and preference shares since December 2011.

The commercial bank since last May closed four of its branches, leaving 13 open, and cut its workforce by 10 per cent.

SGJ ended its financial year with $6.29 billion net profit with equity of $35.9 billion. Its the 14th straight year of improved profits.

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Sagicor Bank triples capital base on RBC purchase

Trinidad government says armoured vehicle purchase was necessary to fight crime

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, Thursday September 11, 2014, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago government has sought to defend the decision to purchase a number of specially outfitted armoured vehicles, saying that it was necessary in the ongoing fight against crime on the island.

A statement from the Ministry of National Security said the vehicles would not be operated in an offensive mode but rather to protect the population including law enforcement officials.

It quoted National Security Minister Gary Griffith as saying that “the only persons who should see these assets as intimidating are those operating on the wrong side of the law.

“The acquisition of these vehicles is all part of the unified effort of delivery on the mandate of the Government to restore Trinidad and Tobago to a safer and more secured nation for all its citizens,” the release stated.

The statement said that armoured vehicles were not new to Trinidad and Tobago even as it acknowledged that the Defence Force has not been able to acquire these types of vehicles in over 20 years, and were instead utilising normal civilian vehicles to perform the duties expected of the Defence Force.

“(Minister) Griffith stated that modern-day law enforcement is evolving at a rapid rate to treat with threats which may not have existed decades ago. Due to the transnational nature of crime, there is now more than ever a need to restructure and realign T&T’s National Security apparatus as the present capacity of our Defence Force and law enforcement agencies does not cater for these new threats.”

The statement noted that while there are currently no intelligence reports of any existing disturbances or pending threats to this country, the authorities are putting the appropriate precautionary measures in place to deal with any future eventuality.

“It is better for this country to be prepared for any probability now rather than sit and wait for innocent lives to be lost…this country must be committed, we must be prepared and we will be prepared”.

“For far too long previous ministers of National Security have been accused of not doing enough and he is willing to run the risk of being accused of doing too much to secure our people’s right to life and property,” the statement quoted Griffith as saying.

The release stated that the vehicles represent a new generation of law enforcement practice as they can be configured in various models to support the police, the military and counter-terrorism units in whatever terrain they need to operate.

The vehicles, the release said, were even being used in neighbouring Caribbean nations such as Guyana and Jamaica.

“They will offer maximum protection against various large calibres of weapons for the soldiers and officers of the Police Service who will be operating them in high-risk areas. These vehicles are built to withstand ballistic attack and provide advanced protection against anti-personnel mines and grenade blasts.

“It combines the speed, manoeuvrability and weapons platform options required for roles ranging from command and control and military tactical operations to SWAT, riot control, counter terrorism and counter surveillance.

“The purchase of these and other vehicles and equipment to be used by our law enforcement agencies, should act as a deterrent and would be sending a strong message to criminals to be aware that picking a fight with law enforcement and security personnel is not a fight that they would want to undertake,” the release added.

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Trinidad government says armoured vehicle purchase was necessary to fight crime

Sandals to give Barbados foreign exchange boost with US$53m hotel purchase

Almond Beach Village, Barbados (File photo)

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Sunday July 27, 2014, CMC - Jamaican hotelier, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart’s, Sandals Group will within a few days purchase a Barbados flagship tourism property, Almond Beach Village, for US$53 million.

Reporting on the matter, the Sunday Sun newspaper, hailed the pending transaction for providing a boost to Barbados’ highly stressed foreign exchange coffers.

“It will all be in the form of badly needed foreign currency,” the paper stated.

The property is currently owned by state corporation, Barbados Tourism Investment Inc.(BTI), through which government has been borrowing money from another state entity, National Insurance Service, to keep that premier real estate afloat.

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Sandals Chairman, Gordon “Butch” Stewart.

The sale of Almond to Sandals was recently examined by Cabinet and approved by prime minister Freundel Stuart.

The Sunday newspaper quoted from a note sent to Cabinet by BTI when the purchase was being considered, “It is also worthy of note that Barbados would have been able to convert a Barbados dominated loan facility, namely borrowings from [NIS] and Almond Resorts Inc., which was all in Barbados currency, into United States dollars at a rate of $2 to $1?.

The emphasis on the foreign exchange gain from this anticipated purchase comes against the background of an analysis by international rating agency Moody’s on the perilous threat the Barbados dollar faces if its foreign currency reserve suffers further drops.

“Any further erosion in reserves would likely put further pressure on Barbados’ currency, which is pegged to the US dollar,” Moody’s stated in a July 21 report.

Moody’s added, “After recovering slightly during the previous three quarters, foreign exchange reserves have resumed their decline, and as of 30 June remained around 25 per cent below early-2013 levels,” Moody’s noted. “This decline occurred despite a slight recovery in long-term private financial inflows that traditionally help support the central bank’s international reserves”.

Half-year figures from the Barbados Central Bank show the foreign exchange reserve falling from BDS$1,219.9 (One BDS dollar = 50 US cents) at the end of June 2013 to BDS$1,093.3 at June 30 this year.

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Sandals to give Barbados foreign exchange boost with US$53m hotel purchase

Sandals to give Barbados foreign exchange boost with US$53m hotel purchase

Almond Beach Village, Barbados (File photo)

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Sunday July 27, 2014, CMC - Jamaican hotelier, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart’s, Sandals Group will within a few days purchase a Barbados flagship tourism property, Almond Beach Village, for US$53 million.

Reporting on the matter, the Sunday Sun newspaper, hailed the pending transaction for providing a boost to Barbados’ highly stressed foreign exchange coffers.

“It will all be in the form of badly needed foreign currency,” the paper stated.

The property is currently owned by state corporation, Barbados Tourism Investment Inc.(BTI), through which government has been borrowing money from another state entity, National Insurance Service, to keep that premier real estate afloat.

Click here to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)

Sandals Chairman, Gordon “Butch” Stewart.

The sale of Almond to Sandals was recently examined by Cabinet and approved by prime minister Freundel Stuart.

The Sunday newspaper quoted from a note sent to Cabinet by BTI when the purchase was being considered, “It is also worthy of note that Barbados would have been able to convert a Barbados dominated loan facility, namely borrowings from [NIS] and Almond Resorts Inc., which was all in Barbados currency, into United States dollars at a rate of $2 to $1?.

The emphasis on the foreign exchange gain from this anticipated purchase comes against the background of an analysis by international rating agency Moody’s on the perilous threat the Barbados dollar faces if its foreign currency reserve suffers further drops.

“Any further erosion in reserves would likely put further pressure on Barbados’ currency, which is pegged to the US dollar,” Moody’s stated in a July 21 report.

Moody’s added, “After recovering slightly during the previous three quarters, foreign exchange reserves have resumed their decline, and as of 30 June remained around 25 per cent below early-2013 levels,” Moody’s noted. “This decline occurred despite a slight recovery in long-term private financial inflows that traditionally help support the central bank’s international reserves”.

Half-year figures from the Barbados Central Bank show the foreign exchange reserve falling from BDS$1,219.9 (One BDS dollar = 50 US cents) at the end of June 2013 to BDS$1,093.3 at June 30 this year.

View the original article here

Sandals to give Barbados foreign exchange boost with US$53m hotel purchase

JPS and BMR to sign power purchase agreement

The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) is to sign an agreement with renewable energy firm, Blue Mountain Renewables (BMR) to purchase the energy it produces.

BMR was recently awarded the right to build a 34 megawatt wind farm near Malvern in St. Elizabeth, having responded to an invitation from the Office of Utilities Regulation in October 2012 for proposals for renewable energy projects.

The JPS has partnered with BMR by providing background wind data based on its existing operations at the Munro Wind Farm, situated in the vicinity of the proposed new facility.

The project

According to information provided on BMR’s website, the project will include 18 wind turbines. The entire installation will require about 75 acres of land to be leased from the National Land Agency.

It says the overall area where the equipment will be installed totals more than 600 acres of land, much of which is currently used for farming and cattle grazing. Those activities can continue at the site, alongside the wind farm, the company is projecting, “since only a small parcel of land around each wind turbine will be reserved for the project.”

About BMR

Blue Mountain Renewables says the company was established to develop renewable power generation projects throughout the Caribbean and Central American region.

It says BMR shareholders “include veterans of the electric power industry with over sixty years of collective experience and American Capital Ltd. one of the largest investment management firms in North America.”

The company says its shareholders have teamed up to develop and invest in energy related infrastructure projects throughout the region.

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JPS and BMR to sign power purchase agreement

JPS and BMR to sign power purchase agreement

The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) is to sign an agreement with renewable energy firm, Blue Mountain Renewables (BMR) to purchase the energy it produces.

BMR was recently awarded the right to build a 34 megawatt wind farm near Malvern in St. Elizabeth, having responded to an invitation from the Office of Utilities Regulation in October 2012 for proposals for renewable energy projects.

The JPS has partnered with BMR by providing background wind data based on its existing operations at the Munro Wind Farm, situated in the vicinity of the proposed new facility.

The project

According to information provided on BMR’s website, the project will include 18 wind turbines. The entire installation will require about 75 acres of land to be leased from the National Land Agency.

It says the overall area where the equipment will be installed totals more than 600 acres of land, much of which is currently used for farming and cattle grazing. Those activities can continue at the site, alongside the wind farm, the company is projecting, “since only a small parcel of land around each wind turbine will be reserved for the project.”

About BMR

Blue Mountain Renewables says the company was established to develop renewable power generation projects throughout the Caribbean and Central American region.

It says BMR shareholders “include veterans of the electric power industry with over sixty years of collective experience and American Capital Ltd. one of the largest investment management firms in North America.”

The company says its shareholders have teamed up to develop and invest in energy related infrastructure projects throughout the region.

View the original article here

JPS and BMR to sign power purchase agreement