business@tribunemedia.net
THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2023
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Doctors targets share offering for end-August By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net DOCTORS Hospital is targeting end-August 2023 for a share offering that will give more Bahamians an ownership interest in the healthcare provider just as it aims to “near double” pre-COVID’s $60m annual revenues. Dennis Deveaux, the BISX-listed company’s chief financial officer, told Tribune Business it was committed to the offering although the size of the capital raise and mechanism that will be employed are still being determined. Disclosing that RF Bank & Trust has been retained as financial advisers for the offering, he pledged that Doctors Hospital will “engage” both existing shareholders and potential new investors about the merits of a rights issue, private placement or some combination of both as it seeks to broaden the company’s existing 1,000-strong equity ownership base. The offering proceeds will ultimately finance Doctors Hospital’s
t :FU UP EFUFSNJOF NFDIBOJTN TJ[F PG FRVJUZ SBJTF t "JNT UP AOFBS EPVCMF QSF $07*% T N SFWFOVF t &ZFT TPMVUJPO GPS VQ UP N AVODPNQFOTBUFE DBSF “fairly aggressive expansion agenda”, which includes its new 50,000 square foot-plus Freeport hospital plus clinics and outpatient facilities in Grand Bahama, the Family Islands and New Providence. Mr Deveaux, confirming that Doctors Hospital will open one facility on the “Village Road corridor” this year, along with another New Providence location he has yet to disclose, told this newspaper that
recent investments on the island are expected to pay dividends as early as the company’s current financial year by generating an extra $5m in revenue. He explained that this growth that has given the BISX-listed private healthcare provider confidence it can “near double” the $60m annual revenues it was generating pre-COVID. Disclosing that Doctors Hospital is targeting improved efficiency, and aiming to hit a net profit margin of 10 percent over the mid-term, Mr Deveaux added that it is keen to partner with the Government to address the $3m-$5m it provides in annual care for which it never receives payment. “We will announce towards the end of August that we are going to be going to market with an opportunity for Bahamians to purchase stock in the company,” he told Tribune Business. “We think it’s an exciting opportunity for Bahamians to participate in healthcare transformation in The Bahamas by helping to contribute on our plans.
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‘Worst deal in history’ to give Gov’t $78m in 2023 By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net NASSAU Cruise Port yesterday estimated it will generate more than $78m for the Government during the 2023 calendar year after a Cabinet minister blasted the project as “the worst deal in Bahamian history”. The Prince George Wharf operator, in a late afternoon statement, forecast that the Government will earn multiple millions more from cruise passenger activity than the sums given by Keith Bell, minister of labour and Immigration, during his presentation in the 2023-2024 Budget debate.
MICHAEL MAURA The House of Assembly was treated to a situation where Mr Bell, in seeking to portray the Minnis administration as having given the cruise port away for next to nothing, attacked an agreement the very Cabinet of
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FTX chief: I’ll tie US up in Bahamas ‘for years’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net FTX’s founder has warned he will use the Bahamian judicial system to block efforts to bring additional fraud, bribery and corruption-related charges against him “for years” by going all the way to the UK-based Privy Council. Sam Bankman-Fried, the embattled crypto exchange chief, warned US prosecutors in Tuesday filings in New York that he “intends to pursue” his legal rights all the way through the Bahamian judicial network
SAM BANKMAN-FRIED to the system’s highest court in a bid to slash the charges against him by almost half. Noting that this process, and the multiple hearings it will require, will take “potentially months
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Wendy’s says PI ambition not over despite reverse t 'PSNFS 4DPUJB CSBODI QFSNJTTJPO PWFSUVSOFE t A5FDIOJDBMJUZ UP POMZ AEFMBZ GBTUùGPPE CSBOE By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Wendy’s and Marco’s Pizza operator last night asserted it has not abandoned its Paradise Island ambitions despite the planning appeals board overturning the approvals previously granted for the former Scotiabank site. Gail Lockhart-Charles KC, attorney for the Aetos Holdings affiliate behind the restaurant “change of use” application, told Tribune Business the decision had merely “delayed” her clients plans as it now requires them to go back before the Town Planning Committee for a full public hearing.
She argued that the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board, in yesterday’s verdict, had overturned the preliminary “change of use” approval from the Town Planning Committee on a “technicality”. Pointing out that the Wendy’s/Marco’s Pizza application was heard in March 2022, when COVID restrictions were still in effect, she said the earlier permission was set aside due to Town Planning’s failure to hold a public hearing or carry out adequate public consultation. Mrs Lockhart-Charles, in a statement sent to this newspaper, said Aetos Holdings and its principals, Chris and Terry Tsavoussis,
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