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WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2023
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Insurer ‘pauses’ expansion on EU blacklisting fall-out By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN insurer yesterday said it has been forced to “pause’” further Caribbean expansion ambitions, adding: “We cannot stress enough the importance of getting off these blacklists.” Anton Saunders, RoyalStar Assurance’s managing director, told Tribune Business
that the property and casualty underwriter has put the brakes on growth plans after already limited reinsurance capacity was exacerbated by The Bahamas’ latest European Union (EU) blacklisting for allegedly being non-cooperative in the fight against tax avoidance and evasion. With EU members such as Germany, where Munich Re and other key reinsurers that underwrite Bahamas risks are
based, taking an increasingly hard line on companies doing business with blacklisted nations, he explained that it was simply impossible for RoyalStar to expand and take on new business if such support is blocked. Asked whether RoyalStar plans to continue expansion both The Bahamas and abroad via acquisition, Mr Saunders told this newspaper: “Let me put it this way. Everything is on hold based on two things. Where we
expand we have to make sure we have reinsurance support. We are on the blacklist, and have reinsurers focused on us getting off the blacklist because that has implications for The Bahamas insurance industry. “It’s going to impact all businesses in the country. However, we are talking about major reinsurers supporting the region, especially from German
GB water regime enacted before rate rise disclosure By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net GRAND Bahama businesses and residents yesterday said it was “amazing” that the island’s new water regulatory regime appeared to have been implemented almost two weeks before they were warned of imminent rate hikes. Speaking to Tribune Business, after the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) confirmed it had approved the rate increases sought by its Grand Bahama Utility Company affiliate, they said this calls into question whether there was any real intent to have a true public consultation on the issue or properly account for consumer concerns. GB Utility’s new regulatory regime, which is posted on the GBPA’s website, states at page two that “this operating
• New regulatory framework took effect April 2 • Two weeks before tariff hike announcement • And month before yesterday’s GBPA approval and regulatory framework agreement [is] made effective as of the 2nd day of April, 2023”. That appears to confirm that the regime took effect almost two weeks before the water supplier’s customers were first informed of the impending rate increases, and new tariff structure, and one month before the GBPA gave its approval for the hikes. The agreement, which was signed by Ian Rolle, the GBPA’s president, and Philcher Grant-Adderley, for GB Utility in her capacity as the latter’s chief operating officer,
also refers to the water supplier’s Board of Directors passing a March 30, 2023, resolution in relation to the new regulatory framework on the page carrying their signatures. It is not totally clear when the agreement was signed, but it appears to have been between March 30 and April 2, 2023. As previously reported by Tribune Business, the GBPA is effectively regulating itself in this whole saga because GB Utility is owned by its affiliate, Port Group Ltd. Both the GBPA and Port Group Ltd have common
AN ATTORNEY and grandson of Sir Milo Butler has successfully fought-off a BISX-listed retail group’s bid to appoint a receiver over his 25 percent interest in the family’s trust. Craig F. Butler, principal of the law firm that bears the same name, persuaded Justice Neil Brathwaite to reject AML Foods efforts to have Ed Rahming, the accountant and founder of Intelisys Ltd, take control of a stake potentially valued at $1.65m. The Supreme Court judge, in a verdict released yesterday, found that the receiver’s appointment would be “excessively
CRAIG F. BUTLER oppressive” given that Mr Butler is seeking to sell a property appraised at $$1.013m. Should that price be realised, the proceeds would exceed the $862,287 debt that the Solomon’s and Cost Right owner is seeking to collect from him.
The legal battle effectively pits cousin against cousin, as AML Foods’ chairman is Franklyn Butler. And among the other beneficiaries of the trust set up by Mr Butler’s father, Raleigh, who was one of Sir Milo’s sons, is Loretta Butler-Turner, the former FNM MP and Cabinet minister who is now a Water & Sewerage Corporation consultant. The interests of herself and her other siblings are not impacted by Mr Butler’s battle with AML Foods. Justice Brathwaite’s verdict reveals that the dispute stems from a default judgment that AML Foods obtained against Mr Butler on June 29, 2021, for the $862,287 plus damages to be assessed with interest and costs.
IAN ROLLE
THE GAMING Board’s executive chairman yesterday hit out at discriminatory rules that bar Bahamians from gambling in hotel casinos, and said: “We’re not here to police morality in The Bahamas.” Dr Daniel Johnson, speaking at a gaming conference held at Atlantis, said: “It’s a peculiar thing
in The Bahamas that you could gamble on Carmichael Road but you can’t come [Paradise Island] and play the $10 bet. It is a peculiar thing that certain people can go certain places and do it and other people can’t. “Our thing is choice. And in the world of adult entertainment, it’s not for kids, it’s not for people who cannot afford it. We want to have a regime that gives people the choice as to what you wish to do. And
KWASI THOMPSON shareholders, namely the Hayward and St George families, thereby creating a major ‘conflict of interest’ that has drawn considerable scrutiny from a cross-section of Bahamian society.
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The BISX-listed food retail and franchise group pushed for Mr Rahming’s appointment as receiver over claims that the attorney, who once sought the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) nomination for Nassau Village, was “stalling” on settling the debt. Mr Butler was examined on his assets, income and means in 2022, disclosing that he owns a property on Alice Street in Nassau through his company, CFB Corporate Services. He also revealed that he had “substantial interests” under a will trust that was settled by his father, which provides that he will “receive at least a 25 percent share of the residue of
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where you want to do it. We’re not to police morality in The Bahamas. We ask people to be responsible. But we’re wanting to change our view of policing our own people. Our people don’t need policing. They need to prosper. And that’s the balancing act we have to go with.” Referring to gaming destinations such as Las Vegas and Orlando, Mr Johnson called for entertainment
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• Profits likely to fall in 2023 after taking ‘shocks’ for clients • 2022 bottom line down 51% due to prior year’s ‘windfall’
• Property Fund buying 3.5 acre site near Gladstone Rd • Investing $400k on shortterm rental ‘trial’ downtown • Targeting 15% rate of return minimum on ventures By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Gaming regulator ‘not here to police morality’ By FAY SIMMONS jsimmons@ tribunemedia.net Tribune Business Reporter
• RoyalStar chief ‘can’t stress enough’ importance of escape
BISX fund ‘back expanding’ with $9m warehouse move
AML loses receiver bid over attorney’s assets By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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DR DANNY JOHNSON
A BISX-listed real estate fund yesterday revealed it plans to invest up to $9m in developing its first New Providence warehouse and storage facility as it “gets back into expansion” again. Michael Anderson, president of RF Merchant Bank & Trust, which acts as the Bahamas Property Fund’s administrator, told Tribune Business it typically looks for a minimum 15 percent rate of return on such ventures after identifying a site near the Gladstone Road and Carmichael Road to make its entrance into this market. The 3.5 acre site, which is vacant, was in the process of being acquired by the Bahamas Property Fund in a $1.403m deal according to its just-published 2022 financial statements, which disclosed the transaction. The sales agreement was signed on February 15 this year, with a deposit equivalent to 10 percent of the purchase price already paid,
MICHAEL ANDERSON and the RF Merchant Bank & Trust chief said the fund is now working with an architect to design the site and obtain permits. “At the moment we’re actually trying to decide how best to develop that property for the purposes of providing warehousing and a storage facility,” Mr Anderson told this newspaper. “We have approved the project at Board level to construct a warehouse and storage facility, and we’re working with an architect to come up with an overall development plan and how we want to do it before we
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