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TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2024
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BISX IPO urged for better capital market By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Securities Commission’s capital markets review will recommend that the Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) sell a portion of its shares to investors via an initial public offering (IPO). Christina Rolle, the regulator’s executive director, told Tribune Business that such a move would “lead to a better governance structure within BISX ultimately” and see the Bahamian stock exchange emulate the flotations that
• Flotation would give improved ‘governance structure’ • Mandatory pensions ‘biggest game changer since NIB’ • BISX chief on the review: ‘There’s no boogeyman here’ its global counterparts have conducted Disclosing that the assessment is in its final stages, and could be published by June this year, she revealed that it was motivated by a desire to identify “the key elements that spur growth in the capital markets” as well as “hindrances” to that
Crime alert ‘crisis’ over: Arrivals set to grow 3% By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas has successfully “navigated and gotten through” the crime alert “crisis”, tourism’s director-general has asserted, with yearover-year arrivals growth forecast at 3 percent in upcoming months. Latia Duncombe told the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) quarterly meeting that the “all hands on deck” joint response by the Government and private sector to saturation media coverage of the US and Canadian advisories had paid off as “things started to normalise” within a fortnight.
LATIA DUNCOMBE She revealed that, despite the short-term negative fall-out, air arrivals to The Bahamas for the first two months of 2024 were some 3 percent ahead of 2019’s record year, and 7 percent up on 2023 comparatives, with cruise arrivals driving
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Lucayan sale optimism amid ‘stale’ 44% GB occupancies By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Grand Bahama Port Authority’s (GBPA) president is voicing optimism that the Grand Lucayan will be sold this year with the island’s early 2024 hotel occupancies at a “stale” 44 percent. Ian Rolle, who also heads the Grand Bahama Island Tourist Board, told the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) latest quarterly meeting that a fully open
and operating resort would “add extreme value” to the island’s product as well as combat the critical shortage of hotel room inventory. Disclosing that a positive resolution to the Grand Lucayan’s fate has been named among the island’s top five challenges by tourism industry stakeholders, he said: “All of us in Grand Bahama would love to know that the hotel has been sold. I think it adds extreme value to the makeup of our offerings.
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and how such obstacles can be eliminated. Ms Rolle told this newspaper that another major recommendation coming from the review is for the Government to implement legislation making pension plans mandatory in The Bahamas. Explaining that these pensions will mirror
the US 401(K) retirement savings plan, she argued that following through on this proposal will be “one of the biggest game changers for The Bahamas since the implementation of NIB”. Besides improving the national savings rate, and providing more Bahamians with sufficient resources to comfortably finance their retirement without becoming a burden on their families or the state, the Securities Commission chief said mandatory pensions will also create a much larger capital that can be accessed by local entrepreneurs to help fund viable business ideas.
“The Commission is conducting a review of the capital markets really with a view to determining the key elements that spur growth in the capital markets given the market structure and level of participation we have in our market,” Ms Rolle told Tribune Business. “Some of the recommendations coming out of the review include a restructuring of BISX, and there’ll be other recommendations. One of the recommendations will be for the Government to implement mandatory pension plans
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CHRISTINA ROLLE
KEITH DAVIES
Police fear over Airbnbs based in crime ‘hot spots’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Royal Bahamas Police Force is urging “immediate” regulation of the vacation rental market after finding growing numbers of tourists wandering around Over-the-Hill “crime hot spots”. Chief Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings, the Force’s chief spokesperson, told the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) latest quarterly meeting that officers were becoming increasingly
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Urge greater regulation for visitor safety One incident will brand Bahamas ‘unsafe’ Spokesman urges ‘preventative measures’
alarmed over visitor safety having found vacation rental guests walking in areas such as Bain Town, The Grove and other
BPL braces for 26 MW Nassau demand ‘jump’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMAS Power & Light (BPL) is racing to prepare its network for an up to 26 Mega Watt (MW) increase in New Providence’s 2024 peak summer energy demand amid hopes its fuel charge will ease. Ian Pratt, the stateowned utility’s chief administrative officer, told the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) recent quarterly meeting that it is bracing for possibly a 9.3 percent surge in peak summer load - an even greater jump than the prior year’s 6.87 percent increase. Disclosing that BPL is preparing for the extra
strain by having two of its main Wartsila generation units at Clifton Pier undergo “major overhauls” now, when electricity demand is lower, as well as seeking to bring units presently offline at the Blue Hills power station back into service, he disclosed that the utility is seeking to increase its use of cheaper heavy fuel oil (HFO) on New Providence. Mr Pratt said BPL is aiming to install new equipment at Clifton Pier “to improve the handling and burning” of HFO in July - just in time for the August peak demand. He added that increasing use of the less expensive fuel when compared to automated diesel oil (ADO),
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parts of inner-city New Providence. Disclosing that the police are already working through the various Urban Renewal Centres to compile a list of Airbnbs and other vacation rentals in Over-the-Hill areas, she urged that “preventative measures be put in place before something happens” as the first armed robbery, shooting or any other incident will immediately cause visitors to label The Bahamas as “unsafe” on social media and elsewhere.
“As I talk about Airbnbs, we need to bring some form of regulation to the Airbnbs CHRISLYN that we SKIPPINGS see in this country,” Chief Superintendent Skippings urged. “There are times, as police officers, that we traverse the inner city and go into Bain Town or go
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