By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian retail investors will be given an opportunity as early as end-May to collectively acquire a $20m ownership interest in the renewable energy provider developing new power plants for Abaco and Eleuthera.

Anthony Ferguson, president of CFAL, the financial advisor and placement agent for EA Energy, told Tribune Business that approval from the Securities Commission is now awaited for an offering that will give small and individual Bahamian investors the opportunity to acquire a stake in the Government’s energy reforms for as little as $1,000.

Speaking after EA Energy completed the private placement aspect of its $132.5m capital raising, he revealed that - while the $100m bond component was fully subscribed for by investors - around $21m of the $32.5m equity was taken up. This now leaves the remainder and more available for retail investors, with Mr Ferguson confirming that Abaco and Eleuthera residents will be given the chance to buy-in.

“We always intended to have about $20m for the public, so we’re going to be doing that at the end of May,” the CFAL chief told this newspaper. “We’re going to do similar to what we did with Arawak Port Development Company (APD) and the Nassau Cruise Port. Everything is in with the Commission, and we’re just waiting for them to give us approval.”

Mr Ferguson confirmed the retail investor offering will likely be structured along similar lines to the Nassau Cruise Port, where persons bought shares in an investment fund that, in turn, holds their collective stake in the Prince George Wharf operator. “It’s cheaper from an operational cost standpoint and folks get the full dividend yield as opposed to having any costs associated with it,” he explained. “It’s going to go out at $20m to retail investors.”

CFAL yesterday said persons will be able to participate in the EA Energy offering with a minimum $1,000 investment, and it is also giving “the option for salary deductions for employees of the Government of The Bahamas and other public corporations as done in previous offerings”. Mr Ferguson yesterday suggested that debt financing may be provided to enable persons to buy-in with this sum to be paid back in ten months.

“I’m not aware of any other energy PPP (private-public partnership) out there offering shares to the public,” he added. “We thought it important that the Bahamian public participate similar to APD and the cruise port; Nassau Cruise Port.”

CFAL yesterday said the first-round private placement financing, which lasted for 16 days before closing pre-Easter on April 16, had raised “a significant portion off the $140m EA Energy aims to use for its dual projects”.

Mr Ferguson confirmed to this newspaper that the $100m bond component was fully subscribed, adding that “there’s a lot of appetite for fixed income” securities especially with the 8 percent interest coupon on offer, while EA Energy also received “$21m thereabouts” of the $32.5m in equity capital on offer. 

“We have the balance for the public,” he added. “Obviously we want to involve people in Eleuthera and Abaco to make sure they have an opportunity to invest. It’s their projects and they’re the ones who are going to be utilising the assets.”

The Eleuthera and Abaco power plants will be constructed on land adjacent to BPL’s existing Hatchet Bay and Wilson City locations. Mr Ferguson voiced hope that major vertical construction work could begin as quickly as six to eight weeks time, once all necessary permits are obtained, with the solar and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities finished by early 2026 and June next year respectively.

“We’ve already invested money in it in terms of putting down deposits on the generators and stuff,” he added, “and all the civil works. We’ve been investing money for a bit. We’ve put deposits on generators. Getting those things, they can take 24 to 36 months, and we were able through our international contacts to get it within that timeframe. They are like $7m-plus.

“We’re waiting for one or two permits. Once we get those, we’ve hired the team and are ready to go flat-out round the clock. Engineering is already approved. We just need some final environmental approvals, and are working with Keith Bishop and his team.

“I would say within six to eight weeks we’ll be trenched for solar and stuff like that. We’d like to be aggressive and to have solar finished by December or January 2026 and then the LNG by June next year.” The two power plant projects will be de-risked via the signing of a 25-year power purchase agreement with Bahamas Power & Light (BPL).

The latter will be required to purchase a minimal amount from EA Energy and compensate it at “the contract price” if it misses this threshold. And EA Energy, in its offering documents, said it has also been given effective exclusivity to supply power on both islands if it performs, meaning a public monopoly in BPL has been swapped for a private one.

“The ‘limit on third-party purchases of energy’ provision ensures that BPL will exclusively source energy from the project as long as the facility meets 100 percent of the demand requirements for its customers in Eleuthera and Abaco, and remains capable of delivering at least the agreed minimum purchase obligation,” EA Energy said.

EA Energy is estimating that its Eleuthera and Abaco power plants will supply energy at 25.47 cents and 25.79 cents per kilowatt hour (KWh), respectively, when they begin generating electricity in the 2026 third quarter. Site clearance work was already shown to have begun.

Given that BPL was charging a combined all-in 35 cents per kilowatt hour over 800 KWh in February 2025’s billing, the tariffs proposed by EA Energy would appear to represent between a 26.3 percent and 27.2 percent or just under 10 cent per KWh decrease compared to existing billings.

However, energy industry sources have queried these prices. One contact, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the prices shown by EA Energy appear to be wholesale prices meaning the cost it will sell energy to BPL for. 

Besides being higher than BPL’s 23.5 cents per KWh all-in electricity tariff when the Minnis administration’s fuel hedge was in effect, the source said BPL would likely need to add a mark-up equal to 12-12.5 cents per KWh to cover its own costs plus grid maintenance. As a result, they suggested the price charged to Abaco and Eleuthera consumers will not see a major decrease based on these figures.

EA Energy’s equity private placement document showed that, together, the two power plants will create some 38 full-time jobs - 16 in Eleuthera, and 22 in Abaco - with a combined annual payroll of $2.762m. Their combined revenue is forecast to grow from $50.1m during their first full year in operation in 2027 to $131.9m in 2050 - the last year before the 25-year PPA ends.

The renewable energy provider is a joint venture between Consus, a Turkish energy company, and Verdant, a Bahamian entity for whom few details were disclosed. Following the private placement equity raise, both partners will retain a 37.5 percent ownership interest with the remaining 25 percent held by Bahamian investors. Each will thus be selling off 12.5 percent of its existing 50 percent equity stake.

The participants in EA Energy, and the renewable provider itself, were both described as having existing strong Bahamian links. EA Energy was said to have the Nassau Cruise Port as a “sister company”, although the link was not fully explained, while Verdant is a “shareholder in Island Power Producers (IPP)..... the 60 mega watt (MW) LNG-fuelled shore power project development in New Providence”.

That will supply clean energy to ships docked at Nassau Cruise Port. Erold Farquharson, a contractor, who is Island Power Producers’ managing director, is also named as EA Energy’s chief executive, and EA Energy’s Board includes as directors Mr Ferguson and Antoine Bastian, the Genesis Fund Services’ principal.

Island Power Producers’ address, No.3 Bayside Executive Park in western New Providence, is the home of Levant Advisors, whose principals are listed on the company’s website as Mr Ferguson and Mr Bastian. The duo are heavily involved with the Government’s efforts to monetise The Bahamas’ seagrass meadows, mangroves and other so-called ‘carbon sinks’ via the creation of ‘blue carbon credits’.