Archive for February 22nd, 2011
Distillers keep up ‘spirits’
(CNS): The makers of Seven Fathoms Rum, Cayman Island Distillery, a locally owned and operated small business, is planning on moving to a new facility, creating more new lines and recruiting another twenty locals to help it grow. The owners have announced that they are looking for new premises to add to the distillery at Hammerheads along the water front in George Town as a result of the business’s success. Founders Nelson Dilbert and Walker Romanica say they need a larger production facility to keep up with demand for Cayman’s only locally produced spirits.
In addition to the Seven Fathoms Rum and Governor’s Reserve line of rums, the distillers have plans to introduce several new lines of spirits, including vodka, in the near future, which, like the rums, will be produced here in Cayman.
The location of the new distillery is still being finalized but the plan is to develop a custom designed 5,600 square foot facility. They said the new facility will create an additional 20 jobs, which they want to fill with Caymanians. Even before the planned move the local rum makers say they are looking for a Caymanian to fill a distiller-in-training position.
The Cayman Islands Distillery was founded in 2007 and originally produced a single rum that was sold initially only at one location. Over the last three years the company has expanded into a full line of rums, including Seven Fathoms Rum, as well as a line of rums called Governor’s Reserve. The Governor’s Reserve line now features gold, white and coconut rums, and a spiced rum and a dark rum are ready to launch in the next few months, the founders said.
“The warm reception we have received all around the island and from bars, restaurants, liquor stores and visitors alike has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Dilbert. “It is the encouragement from the resident and business community here that has kept us moving forward and expanding into other spirits.”
He added that the support from the community was a crucial part of the success. “I think people are very encouraged to see young Caymanian entrepreneurs able to build a small but successful company here in Cayman.”
So far Seven Fathoms Rum has been sold and distributed in the United Kingdom through the Whisky Exchange, a prominent distributor and retailer of fine spirits located in London. Since the UK launch, the distillery has been promoting the rum in conjunction with the Cayman Island’s Department of Tourism’s UK office.
The distillery has now signed another export agreement with Luxe Vintages of Boca Raton, Florida, to begin exporting Seven Fathoms Rum to the US market.
Seven Fathoms uses a selection of locally grown sugar cane in all of its products. It is made by hand in a craft distillery using a unique underwater maturation process. The small distillery has been recognised worldwide for its handmade, small batch artisan rum, earning awards of distinction and medals from the Beverage Tasting Institute’s spirits review in Chicago, the annual Ministry of Rum Competition, and many others.
New fund services firm sets up shop in Cayman
(CNS): The world’s largest independent, global fund administration business is opening an office in the Cayman Islands. Apex Fund Services has been granted a Companies Management Licence by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority and will now provide independent directors, local directors, Apex directors, corporate secretarial services and registered office services from Grand Cayman. Dax Basdeo, Chief Officer for the Ministry Finance congratulated Apex on behalf of the government on its expansion into Cayman. “This is a testament that the global financial architecture is getting back on track, and that the Cayman Islands remains a top domicile of choice for hedge funds and company registrations,” Basdeo said.
“We are pleased that Apex Fund Services has recognised the benefits of doing business in the Cayman Islands, and trust that their clients will take advantage of the new investment opportunities that this expansion will bring,” he added.
The local office has been established by Alric Lindsay, a former investment funds attorney with offshore firms Maples and Calder and Ogier and Lindsay will continue to act as an independent party, offering his expertise to Apex by assisting with the growth of the business, helping Apex to take its place as a key player in the market.
“Having a background as a lawyer, an accredited director, former certified public accountant with PwC and as a regulator puts me in a unique position to make a long-term, value-added contribution to Apex,” he stated. “This not only comes in the form of the actual growth of the Apex business, but in my role as a non-executive, independent director to the boards of hedge funds and other structures administered by the Apex Group. It is a fantastic opportunity to be involved with a thriving, viable, global administrator like this."
Apex employees include Rayal Bodden, a director for over 12 years, and Shane Edwards, a former auditor and fund administrator with well-known Cayman firms.
Peter Hughes, (Pictured above) Managing Director of Apex Fund Services Ltd, commenting on the approval of the licence said: “Apex continues to grow rapidly as we support an increasing number of investment managers located all over the world. Apex already has over 220 funds registered in the Cayman Islands that it provides administration services making the opening an office an obvious choice for the next step of our global growth strategy.”
The firm has 190 staff and over $16 billion in assets under administration and the firm aims to be in the top 25 fund administrators worldwide by the end of 2011.
Butterfield appoints new faces in asset management
(CNS): Butterfield has appointed to new people to its growing Asset Management division. Dennis Govan joins Butterfield as Head of Asset Management, Caribbean in the Cayman Islands and Michael Neff joins Butterfield as Executive Vice President, Head of Group Asset Management in Bermuda. Conor O’Dea, Senior Executive Vice President, Caribbean, said that asset management is an integral part of the firms wealth management offering. “Across the Group, we have $6 billion of assets under management—in Butterfield Funds and managed portfolios. I am pleased to welcome these two individuals to our team,” he added.
Govan has over 30 years international financial services experience with many years spent in roles in the investment banking and wealth management fields. He joined the Butterfield Group in August 2009 as the Head of Investment Management, Bahamas to launch a start-up private client investment management business. Prior appointments include Director Wealth Management, Bahamas and Turks and Caicos FirstCaribbean International Bank as well as CEO, London, Raiffeisen Zentral Bank, Austria.
Meanwhile, Neff has nearly 25 years’ experience in financial services, having held senior roles in wealth management client services and business development functions. He began his career at Chemical Bank’s Private Banking Group before leaving the firm to establish AnswerSpace Inc., a CRM and financial planning consultancy, in 1998. In 2001, he founded Monetaire Inc., a leading provider of financial planning and advice software that was acquired by RiskMetrics Group in 2004. As Head of Butterfield Asset Management in Bermuda, Neff has overall responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the Butterfield Group’s portfolio/fund management, discretionary management and research functions across Bermuda, Cayman, Guernsey and the United Kingdom.
Defendant serves year in jail with no trial date
(CNS): A man accused of accessory to murder who has been remanded in jail for almost a year without a trial date has been refused bail. The defence attorney representing Craig Johnson who was in court to hear if a trial date would be set on Friday morning said it was unacceptable when again no date could be given. Anthony Akiwumi said that through no fault of his own, his client remained in jail with no idea when his case would be heard facing continued uncertainty. Johnson’s trial date has not yet been set as a result of problems with the murder trial relating to the crime he is charged with. There are three defendants in that case and as one was only recently indicted and has no lawyer the date for that case is also in question.
Akiwumi pointed out that despite the crown’s difficulties with having multiple defendants in the murder case it still had a duty to ensure delays don’t occur in the process of justice and the time his client was in jail without any certainty regarding his own trial was unacceptable. He pointed out that while there were custody limits in other jurisdictions when trials are not set that was not the case in Cayman.
Johnson is charged with being an accessory to murder in the shooting of Marcos Gauman, who was gunned down in Maliwinas Way, in West Bay, last March and the crown will be bringing the murder case first before trying Johnson. With three defendants all arrested at different times and all struggling with legal representation the murder trial date currently set for April is expected to be vacated shortly in favour of a trial later in the year. As a result this means Johnson cannot be given a date for his own case to be heard.
Justice Marva McDonald-Bishop, the judge dealing with the mention list in Grand Court on Friday, said that she did not think Johnson had been on remand for an inordinate amount of time at this point, and given the charges related to such a serious offence she said she must balance the wider public interest and remanded him in custody.
Although accessory to murder is not listed as an offence where bail should not be granted in law the judge said she believed its absence from the schedule was more of an oversight given that it was as serious as any other offence relating to assisting in a murder. However, she warned that if there did come a time when the defendant was remanded for an unacceptable period without a trial date the situation would be reconsidered and Akiwumi should raise the issue again on behalf of his client.
Latest loan rate under wraps
(CNS): Although a deal with Cohen & Company to arrange government’s loan of US$185M has fallen through, the New York based firm did organize two bridging loans for public coffers of more than US$128M. A spokesperson for the finance ministry said he could not reveal the interest rate or the fees paid to Cohen on these stop-gap loans as government was still exploring the long term loan with other financial institutions and didn’t want to undermine that process. He said the details would become public, however, when the long term deal was secured. Government borrowed US$92.5M via Cohen last year over a 2-3 month term, which has now been extended to April of this year, and a second US$36M loan which it has now paid back.
The ministry said that the interest rates were competitive, despite being short term, and the money came from a number of different financial institutions, including a local bank. Cohen did not lend government the cash but sourced the short term loans with various banks, the ministry confirmed.
The proposed long term financing deal which government had entered into with Cohen would have been a bond issue. However, the country’s premier recently announced that the deal had fallen through as the firm could not guarantee the original favourable interest rate it had said it could secure.
Government faced considerable criticisms as a result of its decision to enter into a deal with Cohen last October as it had circumvented the central tendering process. At the time the premier said he had done so to get better value for the public purse and chosen “substance over process”. Now the deal has fallen through it is not known how much government has paid in fees to the firm for these two loans, what rates were secured and what further fees it will now pay to organise other loans or bond issues as well as future interest rates.
These two loans were temporary financing arrangements which have to be paid back over a specific short time frame to address government cash flow issues until a long term loan is organized. Although the UK has cleared the government to borrow up to US$185 million (CI$155M) in this financial year, the premier recently stated that with a turn around in public finances from an anticipated deficit to a surplus as a result of a cut in government’s operating costs, it may not need the full amount.
However, if later in the year the government finds there is still a deficit and it did not borrow the full approved amount, the UK may not allow the Cayman government to carry that approval over into the 2011/12 financial year and borrow the difference after 30 June 2011.
Although the exact amount is yet to be decided, government does need to borrow money to both pay back the short term loan arranged by Cohen and to cover the originally expected shortfall in government operational revenue this financial year. It is not yet been decided whether government will re- tender for the loan or follow a selective tendering process based on the information it received during the original tendering process when locally based company had reportedly offered a rate as low as 3.5%.
Government currently has an a estimated total public debt of about CI$550million divided over two separate bond issues, which were floated in 2003 and 2009, a collection of loans with a local retail bank and this more recent temporary loan which was arranged via Cohen & Co.
US visa email is a scam warn finance cops
(CNS): Officers from the financial crimes unit of the RCIPS are warning people not to be fooled by an e-mail claiming to be from the US Department of State telling people that they are winners in the Diversity Visa Lottery and asking recipients to send cash to the UK. In this latest email police say the fraudsters have gone to great lengths to make it look genuine but people need to guard against being fooled. Detective Chief Inspector Claudia Brady of the RCIPS FCU pointed out that the first point is that the Diversity Visa is not offered in the Caribbean. As a result no on one should enter into any kind of communication, send any personal details or transfer cash to the author.
“Like so many of the e-mail scams currently circulating, the perpetrator has spent a great deal of time and effort making the communication appear genuine – using logos, government terminology and information. But, no matter how authentic the e-mail appears to be, do not respond or you will lose your cash,” the financial cop warned.
Further information about how to avoid becoming the victim of scams can be obtained by calling the RCIPS Financial Crime Unit on 949-8797.