WICB favours Stanford loan

Anxious to overcome an expanding debt burden, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is considering two vital options to secure, as soon as possible, $25 million.

The first option is to raise total sum with a bond guaranteed by governments of the Caribbean community, as proposed by a special committee headed by Barbadian financial expert, Grenville Phillips.

The second option is to accept an offer from the Antigua-based American business tycoon, Allen Stanford, for his Stanford Group Company (SGC) to "guarantee" the entire loan-for-debt package against expected "profit" from the World Cup in 2007 and "other assets" of the WICB.

The WICB's management is reported to be more favourably disposed to the second option. However, a final decision is yet to be made, but might possibly happen at a forthcoming meeting, it was reliably learnt yesterday.

Asked separately yesterday to comment on the loan for debt payments, as outlined in an Aide Memoir signed between WICB president Ken Gordon and Stanford, both the WICB's chief executive officer (CEO) Roger Brathwaite and Phillips said it was a matter that only the Board's president could address.

In a subsequent telephone conversation with Gordon from Trinidad, he confirmed the Board had discussed its debt burden and other matters with the Texan billionaire.

"We have considered both the Stanford offer and the suggestion from the Grenville Phillips committee and we are working to refine what these would actually mean to us in cost-benefits," Gordon said.

The Aide Memoir, a copy of which was obtained by the Sunday Express, was signed during a recent meeting between Gordon and Stanford at the headquarters of the Stanford financial empire in Houston, Texas.

In relation to the specific issue of the $25 million being sought by the WICB to take care of outstanding debt of approximately $20 million, plus an additional anticipated $4 to $5 million loss, the document signed by Gordon and Stanford states:

"He (Stanford) also indicated that rather than go to the governments for guarantee of a $25 million bond, as suggested by the Grenville Phillips committee, it may be possible for this to be arranged through Stanford Group Company, Stanford's US wealth management and investment advisory firm, based on the expectations of profit from the World Cup and other assets that may be available to the WICB."

Using their respective initials "AS" (Allen Stanford) and "KG" (Ken Gordon), in reference to each other throughout the Aide Memoir, Stanford is also quoted as saying that he would be willing to help the WICB in "resolving as a priority" the issue of the Board's existing financial deficit.

Gordon said he could not say "off-hand" what was the value of the WICB's "total assets", but an estimated $70 to $73 million in profit was expected to accrue from next year's World Cup.