§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate the Commonwealth Development Corporation has made of the number of employees at(a) the (i) Abosso gold and (ii) Satellite gold fields in Ghana and (b) the East Africa gold mines in Tanzania. [92151]
§ Mr. FoulkesAbosso gold and satellite gold fields in Ghana have, respectively, around 400 and 330 employees. The East Africa gold mines in Tanzania, where work is still in the exploration stage, has about 40 employees.
§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the current portfolio of Commonwealth Development Corporation investments together with the estimates of their current value and annual income. [92149]
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§ Mr. FoulkesThe Commonwealth Development Corporation's (CDC) Report and Accounts for 1998 list all the enterprises in which CDC had debt or equity investments at 31 December 1998.
Information on the value and annual income of individual investments is commercially sensitive. In total, the cost of CDC's investments before provisions, as published in the Report and Accounts for 1998, was £1,520.6 million. Provisions of £319.2 million bring the net portfolio at cost less provision down to £1,201.4 million. These figures take no accounts of surpluses in value over cost on any of CDC's equity investments as CDC's accounts are based on the historic cost convention. However, as part of the process of moving towards valuation accounting, CDC valued its equity portfolio as at 31 December 1998 in accordance with the British Venture Capital Association guidelines and this showed an unrealised surplus in valuation of £99 million.
The group revenue account confirmed portfolio loan investment income of £105.0 million and portfolio equity investment income of £31.5 million, giving an annual investment income for 1998 at £136.5 million.
§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the firms which have provided advice to her Department on the Commonwealth Development Corporation and the public-private partnership process together with the fees paid to those advisers to date. [92150]
§ Mr. FoulkesWe have received advice on preparation of the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) public private partnership from Credit Suisse First Boston (and before their merger, BZW) Allen and Overy, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Information on fees paid to individual companies while work is in progress is commercially sensitive. In total, costs to the Department for financial and legal advice in preparation of the CDC public private partnership (including costs of advice from the Treasury Solicitors Department) totalled £1.6 million as at 30 June 1999.