Apex/Swiftships swift boated by A&M
Loss means 1,000 clean, skilled jobs won’t come to NSI
Changes in the A&M contract with the Port seem to not have had any positive impact on negotiations with Apex Group of Companies who was seeking to bring Swiftships 1,000 shipbuilding jobs to Naval Station Ingleside. General Counsel Faisal Gill left a day early after the Port meeting last Tuesday to negotiate with Pascagoula, Mississippi and Brownsville, Texas to locate there.
In a phone conversation with Gill he related that A&M’s Dennis Beal, had met with Gill before, didn’t shake hands, say hi or even acknowledge that Gill was there when he shook hands with Tim Clower who was with Gill. Gill said, I thought that they were supposed to be courting investors, and it’s not the type of reception a buyer would expect from a broker. “We like the site and the area, we wanted to come to the base but, the Port and A&M don’t seem too interested.”
Gill reflected that, “We don’t understand what the Port and A&M are doing and don’t feel like we’re are getting answers.” He continued, “If they have issues with us, if they don’t like the plan we’re offering, if they have questions about our finances, those are all things we can understand and we are ready to fully address those. If they have concerns they should be talking to us, but they’re not.”
He said that this has been an issue throughout the negotiations and that on Tuesday Port staff and Beal seemed solely focused on SRV who was supposed to make a presentation on Tuesday but instead met with staff after the meeting. They are scheduled to make a presentation at a special Port Commission meeting next Tuesday.
SRV, a startup, has said they want to buy NSI to establish a deep water drilling rig service operation at the former naval station. The current situation in the Gulf with BP’s catastrophic blowout has left deep water drilling unlikely to expand deep water drilling in the near future.
The Port appraisal said the base was worth $101 million dollars and that SRV supposedly was making an offer of $110 million. Gill said if that is the case, “more power to them, the port should grab it.” He said he had his doubts as usually a deal of this size entailed a whole corporate team of business and real estate development staff, attorneys and accountants to evaluate the deal. None of which to his knowledge has visited the area or the Port from either SRV or Triple Five it’s supposed financing parent company. Gill said, “We’ve negotiated these deals before and when there are several serious bidders everyone knows it.”
He stated that Apex/Swiftships officials had not only negotiated with the Port and A&M but had visited with the Ingleside City Council, Kevin Kieshnick and Larry Elizondo from the Corpus Christi Council and with several County Commissioners and other community leaders. Gill went on to say that his experience here was unusual for a buyer to experience. He declared, “Even when you are looking at buying a house, they try and treat you nice and put out the orange juice and cookies.” Instead he said A&M seemed uninterested and obstructive at every step of the process from the beginning.
Noting that theirs was the only real offer currently on the table, Gill stated that, “if A&M and the Port want to favor one company over another, that is their right but, it may not be good for the community.” He went on to say, “I was scheduled to stay another day. I just left, I left early. I didn’t see what me being there was going to do. The Port seems to have made up its mind on what it wants to do. I hope it works out. I will be shocked if someone wants to plop down $110 million. If it happens, fantastic, more power to them.”
We’re looking at other project sites and if the Port comes back to us before we get too far down the road with other negotiations, great. If not, that’s fine too. County Commissioner Oscar Ortiz stated with NSI maintenance fees running at $300,000 a month and A&M fees at $350,000 a year I hate to think a company who comes here and has money on the table right here and right now is treated badly. We need those thousand jobs. I don’t know what the Port and A&M are doing but, from what I know there are no other serious offers on the table.”
Attempts to reach Kieshnick, Elizondo, the Port’s Tom Moore who is in charge of NSI redevelopment and other officials were not responded to by press time.
