Staff at TeleBermuda International Ltd (TBI) have been given a windfall - a share in the company they work for following their buy-out by a New York firm.

The move has been labelled a “reward” for the loyalty of the company's employees, who went through more than two years of uncertainty after Bermuda's second long distance voice and data telecommunications provider was put on the sales block.

The company did not say how much money the shares were worth, but said it was five percent of the net value of the company, which is believed to be worth millions of dollars.

“TBI is committed to Bermuda and is equally committed to its dedicated employees who continue to display an incredible level of professionalism, which we believe will help ensure the company's long-term success and future growth,” said James Fitzgerald, president and chief executive officer of TBI.

In a release from the company, it said that the stock has been given to all employees “in appreciation for their work and their devoted effort to move the company forward as a telecommunications leader in the Bermuda marketplace.”

The statement added: “The stock allocation is a genuine reflection of TBI's gratitude to staff and has been provided to all employees, some of which have over six years with the company.”

TBI has gone through a sea of changes and a great deal of uncertainty since it was granted a telecommunications licence in 1996 and survived, despite poor odds and a technology crash.

Its parent company GlobeNet, which shared offices in St David's with TBI, brought an underwater fibre optic link to the Island, allowing TBI to compete with Cable & Wireless for long distance calls from Bermuda.

Since then the cost of long distance has been slashed in Bermuda, as the two companies competed for business.

GlobeNet aimed to instal the first independent sub-sea, fibre optic network between North and South America and was heralded as part of the telecoms revolution in Bermuda.

During 2000 the huge number of companies racing to build a round-the-world fibre optic network shrunk through buy-outs and mergers and GlobeNet was bought out by Canadian telecoms giant 360networks for $1 billion in March, 2000.

But what seemed to be a happy partnership was short-lived.

Shortly after the buy-out the tech crash hit and 360networks announced in 2001 it was to liquidate its non-North American assets, which included GlobeNet after buckling under mounting debt.

In a bid to get out of the red, it revealed that it was abandoning its hopes of running a global system and would be a North American-only operation.

And GlobeNet, with its TBI subsidiary, stayed on the auction block for the next two years as the Government tried in vain to find a Bermuda-based partner to make the deal. Finally Government announced the companies had been sold with no Bermuda partners. The completion of the sale of the GlobeNet Fibre Optic Ring to Brasil Telecom for $48 million was announced on June 11, 2003.

Two days later came the announcement that TBI had been sold to Stonington Partners Inc., a private investment firm located in New York City.

TBI is one of Bermuda's two Class-A telecommunications carriers which provides the Island with international long distance voice, data, internet and co-location hosting services.

Stonington Partners focuses on investment of equity capital in corporate acquisitions. Stonington has presided over the investment of $2.8 billion in equity capital in 44 acquisitions with an aggregate transaction value of approximately $21 billion dollars.