Billion-dollar deal done in Barbados
Monday April 11 2011 | 04:39 AM

BARBADOS HAS FEATURED prominently in a billion-dollar uranium takeover deal involving executives and firms in Russia and Australia.

And the deal would have important implications for Tanzania.

Just when Russia’s AtomRedMetZoloto (ARMZ)– the world’s fifth-largest producer of uranium – and Mantra Resources of Australia seemed set to walk away from a takeover deal valuedat more than US$1.16 billion, bankers, attorneys and executives of the two firms met in Barbados less than two weeks ago and succeeded in doing what “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men” couldn’t do: put them together again.

The new deal has attracted global attention because of its size and the implications for the future of the nuclear energy industry, which looked dim in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear energy disaster in Japan. 

NASDAQ, World Nuclear News, the Financial Times of London and other major business news organizations all reported the story and the role Barbados played in it.

According to the Financial Times, “after days of intense negotiations between executives, bankers and lawyers in Barbados, the two sides thrashed out terms” valued in cash terms at just over US$1.05 billion.

The agreement underscored the importance of Barbados as a player in the international financial services business and it came at a time when the Barbados Government was complaining about British and German efforts to undermine the island’s tourism sector.

After the Barbados meeting, Mantra Resources said in a statement that it had considered “all available options and advice received from its financial and legal advisers” and decided to accept a revised transaction with ARMZ.