Over two years after Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking purchased 60% shares in the Indian Ocean Tuna (IOT) cannery, it has still to make good a pledge to join the Seychelles Government in the acquisition of two purse seiners to help supply the factory.
The deal was reached in early 2006, when the plans for the construction of cold storage facilities with a capacity of 10,000 tons of tuna were also announced. The construction of a loin plant, capable of producing 10,000 tons of tuna loins annual for export was also announced.
But since last year, the IOT has been plagued by frequent shortages of tuna, following reduced catches from the French and Spanish purse seiners. Instead of a planned production increase from 85,000 tons to 110,000, the IOT has only managed 70,000 tons of canned tuna.
The 40% reduction in tuna catches is said to be linked to ocean warming and possible over-fishing.
The factory has closed down frequently and some expatriate staff sent home.
It has never been disclosed how much Heinz’s 60% stake in the IOT was sold to Lehman Brothers for, it remains a state secret known only to the President and Minister of Finance. This is the kind of accountability and transparency President Michel promised on his inauguration – a distorted form of the real thing. But the $ 425 million takeover by Lehman also included production facilities in Ghana and Portugal.
Since, it is clear that Lehman’s interest in Seychelles has waned. After expressing interest in the prawn project on Coetivy Island, it suddenly backed off, when some debts were inadvertently thrown over the agreed purchase price. Lehman Brothers must surely know of things we do not, which are causing them to back off at the speed they are.
In a recent interview on SBC Television, Mr. George Michel, a former DP candidate who has been successful in long-line fishing, said that initial negotiations with the European Union in the early 1980s should have provided Seychelles with a stake in the purse seining venture. Had we received an allocation of just 10% of the fleet that would have meant that Seychelles today would have a fleet of 7 or 8 tuna vessels. As it is, we have none and building one now will set us back over $ 50 million.
We had “ Spirit of Koke”, and a sister ship built of fibre glass, an invention of both Maxime Ferrari and Glenny Savy - a venture which ended tragically. And now we are more than ever dependent and at the mercy of the French and Spaniards to reap anything from our own rich tuna resources.