{"id":11816,"date":"2018-01-25T15:08:22","date_gmt":"2018-01-25T19:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=11816"},"modified":"2018-01-25T22:33:54","modified_gmt":"2018-01-26T02:33:54","slug":"regulators-put-the-breaks-on-observer-share-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/regulators-put-the-breaks-on-observer-share-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"Regulators put the brakes on Observer share sale"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The management of the opposition-friendly Observer Media Group announced today that its controversial sale of shares in the company has been put on hold.<\/p>

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It did not give specific reasons for the decision but said in a notice that the Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission identified \u201cdeficiencies with the offer and asked that it be put on hold until all requirements have been met.”<\/p>\n

The suspension of the sale of 45 percent shares in The Daily Observer and Observer Radio came 24 hours after it was announced.<\/p>

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In an email to staff obtained by Antigua News Room, Chief Operating Officer Darren Derrick lamented the road block.<\/p>

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\u201cWell, things are never as easy as you hope, no matter how well you plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the regulators made contact with the company yesterday and was put in touch with Observer\u2019s lawyers.<\/p>

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\u201cA person who identified herself as Alousia Gail Faisal made contact late yesterday\u2026an online search lists her as the CEO of the Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission,\u201d Derrick wrote.<\/p>\n

The sale has been controversial with the family of the late founder Winston Derrick advising the public not to participate in it.<\/p>

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It has also been ridiculed by Prime Minister Gaston Browne is a series of posts on his Facebook page.<\/p>

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We asked the regulators for specific reasons why they stopped the sale of shares but they did not respond to our email at the time of publication.<\/p>\n

Forty-five percent of the shareholding will be offered to the citizens of Antigua and Barbuda at USD $100 and the remainder will be gifted to the staff to be operated as a communal trust by the active employees (at any time) to have a say in the future of the companies.<\/p>\n

The company has faced financial problems for years, accruing massive debts and having challenges to service its loans.<\/p>\n

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The management of the opposition-friendly Observer Media Group announced today that its controversial sale of shares in the company has been put on hold. It did not give specific reasons for the decision but said in a notice that the Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission identified \u201cdeficiencies with the offer and asked that it be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-2","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nRegulators put the brakes on Observer share sale - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/regulators-put-the-breaks-on-observer-share-sale\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Regulators put the brakes on Observer share sale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The management of the opposition-friendly Observer Media Group announced today that its controversial sale of shares in the company has been put on hold. It did not give specific reasons for the decision but said in a notice that the Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission identified \u201cdeficiencies with the offer and asked that it be […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/regulators-put-the-breaks-on-observer-share-sale\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antigua News Room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-25T19:08:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-26T02:33:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/OMG.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"451\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/regulators-put-the-breaks-on-observer-share-sale\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/regulators-put-the-breaks-on-observer-share-sale\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\"},\"headline\":\"Regulators put the brakes on Observer share sale\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-25T19:08:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-26T02:33:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/regulators-put-the-breaks-on-observer-share-sale\/\"},\"wordCount\":312,\"commentCount\":13,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/regulators-put-the-breaks-on-observer-share-sale\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/regulators-put-the-breaks-on-observer-share-sale\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/regulators-put-the-breaks-on-observer-share-sale\/\",\"name\":\"Regulators put the brakes on Observer share sale - 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