VZCZCXRO0842
RR RUEHGR
DE RUEHKG #1028/01 3431349
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081349Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY KINGSTON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7034
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINGSTON 001028 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR (ACADIEUX) (VDEPIRRO) (WSMITH) 
WHA/EPSC (MROONEY)(FCORNEILLE) 
EEB/ESC/IEC/EPC (MMcMANUS) 
INR/RES (RWARNER) 
SANTO DOMINGO FOR FCS AND FAS 
TREASURY FOR ERIN NEPHEW 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: ENRG EINV ECON ETRD EAGR IADB IBRD IMF TRSY XL JM
SUBJECT: JAMAICA: INFINITY ETHANOL DEAL TO CLOSE IN DECEMBER 
 
REF: A) KINGSTON 917 
B) KINGSTON 703 
C) KINGSTON 755 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) The Government of Jamaica's (GOJ) plan to sell the assets 
of the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) parastatal to Brazilian-based 
Infinity Bio-Energy missed the original target of September 31, but 
should be completed by December 31.  Infinity blames contract 
negotiations and the global credit crisis for the delays.  The firm 
hopes to begin producing ethanol from Jamaican grown feedstock by 
December 2010. Its ethanol production goals are 79 million liters by 
2010 with an increase to 135 million liters by 2013.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Deal Delayed Until Dec 31 
------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Joao Carlos dos Reis, Infinity Bio-Energy's Implementation 
Team Leader in Jamaica, told Econoff on December 5 that the deal 
should be finalized by December 31.  He said his firm's CEO Sergio 
Thompson-Flores will be in Jamaica on December 10 to meet with GOJ 
officials.  He said the real challenge for Infinity has been to get 
credit in the current financial climate, adding that, as the 
financial crisis unfolded, Brazilian banks began hurting and soon 
withdrew existing lines of credit.  Originally, Infinity was to 
spend USD 108 million on the project, but that figure is now lower 
(although he would not say by how much).  COMMENT: Infinity's stock 
price also has suffered in recent months; it is down 91 percent for 
the year on the London Stock Exchange. END COMMENT 
 
Golding Talked About Delays 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) The GOJ prematurely announced in July that the agreement 
was finalized and the transfer of assets would take place by 
September 31 (reftel B). The deal calls for the creation of a new 
joint venture named Infinity Jamaica - Ethanol Green Energy. 
Infinity will hold 75 percent of the assets and the GOJ will retain 
a 25 percent stake for at least three years.  In October Prime 
Minister Bruce Golding said during his monthly Jamaica House radio 
address that he was concerned that the current financial crisis 
could affect the divestment of Jamaica's sugar assets; however, he 
expected divestment of the assets should be completed by mid 
November--which did not happen. 
 
Terms of the Deal 
----------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) The joint venture has four main components: (A) Infinity 
has a five-year off-take agreement in which it will supply 100 
percent of Jamaica's demand for E10 and E25 fuel blends.  (B) it 
will build two power generation plants to produce 29 Megawatts (MW) 
of power annually, which will be sold to the grid for approximately 
17.2 cents per kilowatt hour.  This component includes a 25-year 
power purchase agreement.  (C) it will purchase the assets of the 
former parastatal SCJ.  (D) it will purchase the Petrojam Ethanol 
refinery for processing hydrous from Brazil used in ethanol exports 
to markets in the US and the EU (reftel C).  Reis said a fire that 
damaged part of the cooling tower at the refinery on November 24 was 
not a major setback.  He said it will take 30 days to repair and 
should not affect the county's current roll out efforts for E10 on 
the island (reftels). 
 
Labor and Redundancy 
-------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Under the terms of the agreement, all 7,000 SCJ employees 
will be made redundant and will receive a severance package from the 
GOJ.  Infinity intends to rehire 49 percent of these workers under 
the new joint venture.   COMMENT: According to the Gleaner newspaper 
an SCJ employee with five years of service is entitled to receive 12 
weeks worth of pay, and one with 20 years of service receives 62 
weeks worth of pay.  For the cash strapped GOJ, these redundancy 
costs are going to be extremely expensive. Some of the funding will 
come from an economic assistance package provided under the Economic 
Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed earlier this year with the 
European Union (EU). END COMMENT. 
 
Improving Efficiency 
-------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Infinity plans to close at least one factory and intends to 
 
KINGSTON 00001028  002 OF 002 
 
 
use mechanization and improved technology to increase efficiency 
levels which are currently almost 60 percent below those in Brazil. 
Infinity hopes the strong labor unions, often viewed by some as a 
hindrance to foreign investment in Jamaica, will recognize this 
joint venture as an opportunity for their employees to secure new 
skills and better paying jobs. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Prior to this agreement, the GOJ has lost USD 283 million 
on SCJ since purchasing the company in 1998. The GOJ is desperate to 
get the SCJ and its other major beleaguered parastatal, Air Jamaica, 
off its books as soon as possible.  As the economic situation in 
Jamaica worsens, the GOJ lacks the budgetary resources to continue 
to carry these two massive loss making entities. 
HEG