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‘Great tool’: Multi-million SME Bahamas factoring unveiled By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A JAMAICAN-headquartered investment house is spearheading a multi-million dollar accounts factoring proposal that could be “a great tool” for Bahamian small businesses if structured properly. IDB Invest, the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) private sector arm, is due to decide next week
whether it will extend $10m in “working capital” to Sygnus Group’s local subsidiary to finance the acquisition of accounts receivables owed to Bahamian small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs). Through acquiring these assets, which represent unpaid monies owed to Bahamian SMEs by their clients, the proposal aims to boost these companies’ liquidity and cash flow by freeing their balance sheets from these debts. And,
by converting these intangible assets into cash, this nation’s small businesses will be better able to focus on, and invest in, expanding their operations. Gregory Hines, who is named by IDB Invest as the Sygnus Group’s contact for the accounts factoring initiative, could not be contacted by phone and he did not respond to a Tribune Business e-mail containing detailed questions before press time last night.
However, Mark A Turnquest, founder of the 242 Small Business Association and Resource Centre, and a well-known Bahamian consultant to the sector, told this newspaper that the few details released by IDB Invest suggest the scheme could be “a great financial management strategy” for SMEs who comprise between 90-95 percent of the economy’s active businesses.
MARK A TURNQUEST
• Jamaican financier leads ‘receivables’ plan • Seeking $10m from IDB’s private sector arm
• First purchases appear SEE PAGE B5 to be Gov’ts debts
New challenge to New Providence Development’s control in the west By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net FIVE property owners have teamed to challenge New Providence Development Company’s long-standing control over the island’s western district while arguing that this is anti-competitive. The five, who own separate parcels of about five acres each on the southern side of Western Road between the Old Fort Bay roundabout and Lyford Cay, are urging the Town Planning Committee to “extinguish restrictive covenants” previously imposed by New Providence’s largest private landowner that prevent their properties from being used for commercial purposes. Owen Wells, a McKinney, Turner and Company attorney, representing the five property owners, who are presently restricted to just single-family residential development, argued in a letter to the Department of Physical Planning that the restrictive covenants had long outlived their usefulness and intended purpose.
• Five owners team to fight restrictive covenants • Argue limitations are anticompetitive curbs • And threaten growth, jobs, taxes and values He added that they were imposed to prevent the emergence of competition, and rival developments, while New Providence Development Company was constructing the Old Fort Bay community and, later the Old Fort Bay Town Centre. Both projects have now long been completed, Mr Wells asserted, meaning that the need for the covenants has faded away. And, arguing that the covenants’ primary purpose is to “restrict competition”, he added that their continued existence will only serve to undermine western New Providence
Boat captain: Saving summer fear ‘spot on’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A MOTOR yacht captain yesterday said Bahamian tourism’s fears for the peak summer boating season are “spot on” after his vessel was recalled to the US three months early over the new and hiked fees. Captain David Meyer, master of the Motor Yacht M/Y Escape, in an e-mail to Tribune Business revealed that his vessel has been forced to alter its plans after getting no charter requests during the entire three months it was in Nassau. Blaming this on the 14 percent all-in foreign yacht charter contract fee, which has now rolled VAT into the previous 4 percent Port Department fee, he added that the highest levies in the Western Hemisphere are costing the Bahamian economy significant spend by boating passengers and their crews. Noting that his vessel spent $30,000 in The Bahamas to prepare for just one week-long charter, and injected $500,000 in total into the economy over a two-year period, Captain Meyer argued that those most impacted by the likely drop-off in visiting boaters will be the multiple Bahamian service providers
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property values, deter development and cause land to sit idle “instead of being put to productive use” thereby retarding economic growth, job creation and potential quality of life improvements. Suggesting that “no actual and substantial benefit” will accrue from continuing to enforce the restrictive covenants, Mr Wells wrote: “There are no identifiable parties currently benefiting from the enforcement of the restrictions. “At this point, the restrictions are of no actual and substantial benefit to any person since the purpose of the restrictions has already been accomplished or, by reason of changed conditions, is no longer capable of being accomplished. “As previously mentioned, the implied purpose of the restrictions was, in general, to preserve and protect the success of the Old Fort Bay community while selling property outside the planned development area to raise funds,” Mr Wells continued.
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Attorney’s counterclaim opposition ‘incredible’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN attorney’s opposition to former clients bringing a counter-claim against her in the Supreme Court has been branded “incredible” by the Chief Justice. Sir Ian Winder, in a July 3, 2025, verdict said Lisa Fox was in effective asserting that Sandra Fox and Dennis Fox “have no right” to make a legal claim to recover “substantial sums” that she purportedly deducted from a trust account to cover her legal fees. Ms Fox, who last August denied misappropriating $129,061 from the Edith Glass Estate, for which Sandra and Dennis are trustees, when she was charged with stealing by reason of service, has hit back with a civil claim of her own for “breach of contract, false arrest and detention, defamation and payment of legal fees”. The Paradise Island resident had launched her civil claim on
SIR IAN WINDER July 11, 2024 - the same day that she was arrested following complaints to the police by Sandra and Dennis over the same alleged misappropriation of trust funds. The $129,061 cheque had been made payable to ‘The Edith Glass Trust, Dennis Fox and Sandra Fox TTEs’. “The cheque came into the claimant’s [Ms Fox] possession in February 2022 as a result of her engagement by the Foxes,” Sir Ian noted. However, after filing a defence to Ms Fox’s claim, Dennis and Sandra, then sought the Supreme Court’s permission to launch a counter-claim against her and add CIBC Caribbean (Bahamas) as a defendant. “As against CIBC Caribbean (Bahamas), the Foxes also seek to claim damages in the sum of $137,602,” the Chief Justice added. “They allege conversion of
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FRESH SNAPPERS FROM GENEVA BRASS SEAFOOD
Major seafood name in court receivership By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A WELL-known Bahamian seafood provider has been placed in Supreme Court-ordered receivership after defaulting on debt understood to be worth between $1m-$1.5m. John Bain, the prominent forensic accountant, yesterday confirmed to Tribune Business he has been appointed receiver of Geneva Brass Seafoods Supply by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Bahamas although he declined to say much more other than he is seeking to maximise the
value of the company and its assets for creditors. “It’s under active receivership,” he said, “and we’re trying to maximise the protection of asset value. There’s perishable products and we don’t want to go in there and all the fish rot.” Geneva Brass Seafoods
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