business@tribunemedia.net
FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2023
$5.70
$5.76
$200m airport deal means GB ‘not dead in the water’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
DAMAGE FROM HURRICANE DORIAN TO GRAND BAHAMA AIRPORT
A PROMINENT Freeport attorney yesterday hailed the “lifeline” provided by Grand Bahama airport’s imminent $200m redevelopment, saying: “We’d be doubly dead in the water without it.” Terence Gape, a partner with the Dupuch & Turnquest law firm, told Tribune Business that numerous multi-million dollar investment projects targeted at the island were reluctant to proceed without the security of knowing there would be an airport capable of facilitating the
DPM: ‘Three credible offers’ for Lucayan By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THREE “credible offers” to acquire the Grand Lucayan resort are presently being studied, the deputy prime minister said yesterday, as he and others touted $1bn worth of investments being “in the pipeline” for Grand Bahama. Chester Cooper, also minister of tourism, investments and aviation, told the Grand Bahama Business Outlook conference that the Government was most concerned that any chosen buyer possesses the financing to develop the island’s so-called ‘anchor
IAN ROLLE property to a “world class standard”. Having heavily touted the previous Electra America Hospitality Group deal, only to subsequently see it collapse and have to begin the buyer search anew, he indicated the experience had been a lesson learned, adding: “I ain’t saying
nothing else until money is in the bank.” While not naming any of the three potential purchasers, Mr Cooper told attendees: “It is critically important to this government and Grand Bahama that we find a buyer for the Grand Lucayan resort. Far too much money has been spent, and far too many opportunities await us not to have this on our agenda. “I’m advised by the chairman of Lucayan Renewal Holdings [Julian Russell] that there continues to be considerable dialogue and interest in this resort. We recently received three credible
SEE PAGE B7
Property value boost drives insurer’s 39% profit increase By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A $3.2m gain from revaluing its property assets enabled Bahamas First to shrug off a decline in its core insurance underwriting business and post a 39 percent total comprehensive income increase for the 2022 full-year. The property and casualty insurer, unveiling its unaudited financials for the 12 months to endDecember 2022, revealed that underwriting income fell by more than $3.5m or 11 percent year-over-year to $29.404m compared to $33.031m the prior year. Patrick Ward, the BISXlisted carrier’s president
and chief executive, said the “material dip” was caused in part by an increase in Bahamian motor vehicle accident claims as more motorists returned to the roads post-COVID. He also cited continuing issues with the company’s Cayman Islands health insurance portfolio that it is now moving to address. And, while Bahamas First’s top-line gross written premiums rose by 7.3 percent in 2022 to $191.2m, Mr Ward bemoaned the fact this growth could have been higher but for reduced reinsurance capacity which prevented the underwriter from taking on more new business.
SEE PAGE B4
Port chief eyeing Abaco power cable connection By NEIL HARTNELL and FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporters THE GRAND Bahama Port Authority’s (GBPA) president yesterday suggested running an electricity cable between his island and Abaco as a way to “stabilise” electricity costs and bring rates down. Ian Rolle unveiled the plan at the Grand Bahama Business Outlook conference, where he suggested that such a venture would potentially expand Grand Bahama Power Company’s customer base and provide additional redundancy for Abaco consumers who
presently rely on Bahamas Power & Light (BPL). “We feel if we are able to stabilise the cost of electricity.... we envision a cable possibly running from Grand Bahama to Abaco that would help to spread the cost over a larger population and add redundancy for our brothers and sisters next door to us,” he explained. “We hope that with the spreading out of cost, the rate, it will have a positive effect for all of us.” Back solely on Grand Bahama, Mr Rolle confirmed that the transition to renewable energy was “a big push for this island”.
SEE PAGE B4
$5.72 necessary airlift and customer access. Speaking after Chester Cooper, deputy prime minster and minister of tourism, investments and aviation, confirmed that a Bahamian investor group and their international partners will invest $200m to transform Dorian-devastated Grand Bahama International Airport, he said of the deal: “It means we have a future, which was very much in doubt without the airport.” “The main thing it means is that we have the potential to increase tourism, which we don’t now, and we have the potential to cause a number of investments that are about to start, but wouldn’t start without knowing the airport was coming, particularly Weller Development, to move forward,” Mr Gape told this newspaper of the airport project’s importance. “We had no choice but to move ahead with the airport. I think Carnival were saying they were nervous without it, and Royal Caribbean, if they intend
$5.59 • ‘Lifeline’ to unlocking multimillion investments • Attorney: ‘We now have a future’ for the island • ‘First of three legs’: Airlift, product fixes remain to home port, wouldn’t come without it. It’s really a lifeline to future investment. We were doubly dead in the water without the airport. It’s very, very critical. “With that here we can then move ahead with a lot of other potential investments that wouldn’t do it without the airport. Nobody could build a hotel here without the airport. It’s all good news from our point of view. It means we have a future, which was very much in doubt without the airport
SEE PAGE B5
‘Air cargo hub’ ambition for GB’s $200m airport By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE DEPUTY prime minister yesterday unveiled a $200m Grand Bahama International Airport redevelopment that aims to ultimately transform the facility into an international “air cargo hub” for the Caribbean and Latin America. Chester Cooper, also minister of tourism, investments and aviation, in confirming the long-anticipated deal at the Grand Bahama Business Outlook also disclosed that the mixed Bahamian and UK joint venture consortium that won the bid plans to “consistently generate 1,200 construction jobs” over the project’s five-year build-out.
• Winning bidder aims to serve Latin America • Freight plans to generate up to 500 positions • DPM: 1,200 construction jobs over buildout Signalling that the group’s ambitions extend beyond re-establishing a tourism gateway, and the return of US pre-clearance, he said their plans to establish an air freight hub for the region were designed to create an extra 500 jobs over a 10-year period.
CHESTER COOPER Mr Cooper confirmed previous exclusive Tribune Business revelations that Bahamas Hot Mix (BHM); its chairman, Anthony Myers; and CFAL president, Anthony Ferguson, were all members of the Bahamian investor group
SEE PAGE B3