Ashford W. Meikle, Staff Reporter
AZAN
CAYMANAS ENTERTAINMENT Limited, (CEL) the Richard Azan-led consortium, has emerged as the successful bidder in the Caymanas Park divestment, a reliable source told Wednesday Business.
"They (CEL) scored almost 80 per cent of the qualifying threshold ... and the minimum requirement is 73.5 per cent," said the source.
According to the source, the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ) the state agency responsible for the technical analyses of the bids has already made the recommendation in CEL's favour to the State Minister for Finance, Fitz Jackson.
It is expected that an official announcement will be made by the end of the week following Cabinet's approval.
OUT OF OFFICE
When Wednesday Business contacted the ministry for a response yesterday, an employee said Minister Jackson "is out of office ... (he) won't be in until Friday."
Up to press time yesterday, efforts to contact Mr. Azan and Paul Hoo of Supreme Ventures were unsuccessful. Wednesday Business was also unable to contact Richard Lake. However, sources on both sides who are intimate with the bidding process insist that a decision has already been made in favour of Mr. Azan.
The recommendation by the NIBJ culminates a lengthy process, which began over a year ago when the government announced its intention to offload the Caymanas Park racetrack by inviting bids for a proposed 20-year management and operation of the racetrack.
TWO BIDS SUBMITTED
Initially two bids were submitted: Mr. Azan partnered with Supreme Ventures and Magna Entertainment Corporation (the largest operator of North American racetracks) in a US$55 million (J$3.4 billion) proposal.
The other bidders, the Richard Lake-led Horsemen Limited, submitted a $J1.6 billion proposal.
Last year December, six months after the bids were submitted, the government invited the parties to resubmit their bids, saying that both had fallen below the stated requirements. In fact, a source told Wednesday Business at the time that, "they have to go back to the drawing board. These are quite costly proposals [and] the government is not satisfied that they would be able to pull it off."
DEADLINE
The deadline for the resubmission closed in early March this year. The evaluation committee, headed by Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission chairman, Walter Scott and including two new members (Michael Muirhead and Jeffery Mordecai) made the recommendation a little under two weeks ago.
Apparently what swung the pendulum in CEL's favour were its plans to import an additional two hundred horses (to be leased to trainers) as well as plans to establish 750 slot machines (called Racinos).
