RBTT ENTERS LATIN GAME

The RBTT Merchant Bank has successfully entered the Spanish-speaking Caribbean market through a capital market issue of a US $104 million Senior Secured Note for Empresa Generadora de Electricidad Haina, SA (EGE Haina), the largest single generator of electricity in the Dominican Republic. The transaction, which is the single largest completed by the Merchant Bank, was marked with a special dinner and reception held at La Boucan, Hilton Trinidad on Monday night. The Senior Secured Note, which is due in 2010, is the first of three facilities that the RBTT Merchant Bank will place on behalf of EGE Haina. Two additional facilities, a Syndicated Loan and a second Senior Secured Note, planned for coming months, will bring the total funds raised by RBTT Merchant Bank for the company to approximately US $250 million. Managing Director of RBTT Merchant Bank, Mark Singh, in thanking EGE Haina for its confidence in selecting the bank to facilitate their financing needs, revealed that the mandate was used to refinance existing obligations and partly fund the acquisition of capital stock in the power generation sector of the Dominican Republic.

EGE Haina, a private sector company which holds 22 percent of the DR’s power generation capacity, will use the funds to acquire Empresa Generadora de Electricidad Itabo, SA (EGE Itabo), another electricity-generating company. This will give EGE Haina control of over 35 percent of the generating capacity in the DR. Singh said, “This transaction was a momentous one for us here at RBTT Merchant Bank for several reasons.” He noted that not only was it the single largest transaction done outside TT, but it was also the first capital market transaction in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. “Furthermore,” he went on, “we can be seen as both contributing and facilitating the regional integration process initiated by Caricom through the establishment of a CARICOM/DR Free Trade Agree-ment.” He further revealed that since commencing investment banking activities in 1991, RBTT Merchant Bank has financed major regional projects that have contributed to the growth and development of the Caribbean region.