West Indies board in cash call

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is in urgent need of US$25 million and is considering two vital options in order to secure that amount, as soon as possible.

Option one is for it to seek to raise the total sum by way of a bond guaranteed by governments of the Caribbean Community - as proposed by a special committee headed by Barbadian financial expert Grenville Phillips; option two 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 Cricket World Cup 2007 and "other assets" of the WICB.

The WICB's management is reported to be more favourably disposed to the second option, but a final decision is yet to be made, possibly at a forthcoming meeting.

The US$25 million is needed by the WICB to help overcome its expanding debt burden. Asked separately yesterday to comment on the loan-for-debt payments, as sketched in an aide-memoire signed between 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," said Gordon.

The aide-memoire was signed during a recent meeting between Gordon and Stanford at the headquarters of the Stanford financial empire in Houston, Texas. That meeting also discussed the operationalising of Stanford's US$28 million initiative for the forthcoming Twenty20 cricket tournament under the auspices of the WICB.

In relation to the specific issue of the US$25 million being sought by the WICB to take care of outstanding indebtedness of about US$20 million, plus an additional anticipated US$4 million to US$5 million deficit, the document signed by Gordon and Stanford states: "He [Stanford] also indicated that rather than go to the governments for guarantee of a US$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 United States 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-memoire, Stanford is also quoted as saying 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 that an estimated US$70 million to $73 million in profit was expected to accrue from next year's World Cup series. Asked whether any formal request had been made to CARICOM for governments' guarantee of the US$25 million bond, Gordon said no. But he confirmed the discussions with Stanford on his guarantee offer went "quite well".