The Bahamas Golden Pages Directory will not be appearing in 2006, the company that produced the publication having shut down its office operations on Village Road, the Tribune has learned.
Sources familiar with the situation said Bahamas Data and Media had closed its office on the second floor of the A&K Mini Plaza, with staff having been laid-off last week and computer and office equipment being put up for sale.
The Tribune was unable to contact Bahamas Data and Media executives for comment, the company’s phone at Village Road just ringing out with no one answering it.
Although the Bahamas Golden Pages website still appears to be active, sources told The Tribune that the producer of on-line and hard copy business directories listings had been forced to shut its office after its main financial backer, which is based in Bermuda, withdrew financing support after it failed to deliver the expected investment returns.
Several prospective Bahamas Golden Pages advertisers had been refunded their payments for advertising in the 2006 directory.
A letter sent to them by Bahamas Data and Media said: “Bahamas Golden Pages is making a change in the strategic direction of the business.
For the next six months, the company will advertise exclusively through our on-line advertising vehicle, www.bahamasgp.com. This is consistent with a worldwide trend towards Internet advertising.
“With immediate effect, we will no longer be offering advertising space for sale in our traditional print medium, the Bahamas Golden Pages.”
Bahamas Data and Media’s main financial backer is understood to have been KeyTech, the Bermudan publicly – listed company that acts as a holding vehicle for companies including the Bermuda Telephone Company.
Back in July 2003, KeyTech warned investors it may not recover a $1:26 million loan to Bahamas Data and Media after regulatory limits on foreign ownership stymied its plans.
KeyTech had planned to convert the loan into a “majority equity ownership position” in Bahamas Data and Media, the former’s annual report said.
Regulatory
However, due to regulatory requirements that Bahamians retain majority’ ownership in sectors such as retail and wholesale, KeyTech was told by the Exchange Control Department of the Central Bank in March 2003 that its application for majority ownership in Bahamas Data and Media had been denied.
KeyTech’s annual report said that, after the Central Bank refusal: “The company [KeyTech] is currently seeking additional Bahamian partners and intends to submit a further application to the Central Bank of the Bahamas for approval of a combination of a loan to BD&M from the company and a reduced foreign ownership position by the company in BD&M.”
The Royal Gazette report said KeyTech warned that recovery on the $1.26 million loan could be anywhere between zero to $2.29 million over a five-year period, but “having reviewed the various future scenarios of participation in BD&M by the company and the probability of each occurring” it said that it expects to get $1.26 million back.
Source: The Tribune
