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MONDAY, JULY 21, 2025
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Up to 50% of high-end homes listed ‘off-market’
Thirty workers fired at Norman’s Cay project
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
• Half of Ocean Club Estates homes for sale not public
By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net
UP to 50 percent of high-end, multi-million dollar Bahamian residential properties seeking buyers are being promoted “off-market” rather than publicly via the Multiple Listing System (MLS). Ryan Knowles, founder and chief executive of Maison Bahamas, told Tribune Business this strategy is becoming increasingly popular among high net worth homeowners because it provides more “discretion and privacy” and enables them to weed out potential buyers who are either not serious or lack the necessary financial means. He and his company, in a recent e-mail entitled The Ocean Club Insider, disclosed that 50 percent - or ten - of the 20
• Realtor says sales strategy does not aid VAT evasion • Wealthy owners get privacy, weed out poor prospects multi-million properties currently on the market for sale inside Paradise Island’s high-end Ocean Club Estates are being promoted off-market. Mr Knowles, telling this newspaper that similar trends were also being seen in other gated communities, such as Albany and Lyford Cay, was quick to reject any notion that offmarket sales are a method to avoid the VAT transfer tax on such transactions The Government moved in the 2025-2026 Budget to
tighten administrative procedures surrounding tax payments on real estate sales, estimating the Public Treasury is losing $100m in annual revenues in this area, but Mr Knowles said “off-market” merely refers to how a property is marketed/promoted and has no impact on the conveyance’s execution, recording and tax payment. He added that Maison Bahamas international partner network, Forbes, had already moved to target this area by setting
RYAN KNOWLES up an online platform dedicated to off-market sales some 18 months ago. Potential purchasers are “vetted, selected and identified” before they even see the subject property to ensure they are serious and have the means to purchase, with all access password controlled.
STRATEGY - See Page B4
University ordered to pay ex-finance chief $158,000 By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE University of The Bahamas (UoB) has been ordered to pay its former finance chief almost $158,000 after the Industrial Tribunal determined there were “glaring discrepancies” in its evidence. Ingrid Cooper-Brooks, in upholding Ingrid Culmer’s claim for wrongful and unfair dismissal, found the University failed to explain the “conflicting evidence” supplied by senior executives including its former president, Dr Rodney Smith, who “completely
DR RODNEY SMITH contradicted” the institution’s written submissions by asserting at trial that he was legally responsible for all “hiring and firing”.
DISCREPANCIES - See Page B6
AML Foods sees $23m Old Trail blaze payout By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net AML Foods has received a more than $23m payout from its insurers to cover the damage and loss caused by the mid-April blaze that destroyed its Solomon’s Old Trail and Cost Right stores. The BISX-listed food retail and franchise group, in its fourth quarter and annual results announcement for the period to end-April 2025, disclosed that it had largely received the anticipated insurance recoveries to compensate for the $21m combined loss it suffered due to the fire. Revealing that it had received a $3.5m payout during the two weeks
between the fire and its 2025 financial year-end, AML Foods broke down its $21m loss into a $15.8m write-off of its property, equipment and plant, with further $4.1m and $1.1m writeoffs relating to destroyed inventory and what was described as “other firerelated expenses”. Some $24.234m worth of insurance claim income was recorded on AML Foods’ balance sheet at the endApril year’s close, with a $23.1m payout received from insurers subsequent to that date. The payment almost equals the $23.2m VAT-inclusive insurance receivable noted to
PAYOUT - See Page B4
AROUND 30 employees were terminated by the Norman’s Cay resort development on Friday, senior labour officials confirmed yesterday, due in part to the closure of a well-known restaurant. Despite the shuttering of MacDuff’s Beach Bar & Grill, Howard Thompson, the Government’s labour chief, told Tribune Business that he sees “light at the end of the tunnel” for the project with the developer having pledged that past “mistakes” in employee and labour relations will not be repeated. Around ten, or onethird, of those released by Norman’s Cay are understood to be expatriate workers. The traditional summer tourism slowdown, and cancellation of work permits for three senior expatriate executives, are thought to be other factors behind the downsizing exercise. Tribune Business
• Related to MacDuff’s eatery closure • Labour chief eyes ‘light at tunnel’s end’ understands chefs, bartenders, painters, gardeners and persons working in maintenance were among those terminated. Mr Thompson said he was “fully aware” of Norman’s Cay planned downsizing having been informed of it early last week. He, along with the minister of labour, Pia Glover-Rolle, attended a virtual Zoom meeting with representatives of the developer, “in particular, their legal representatives”, where it was confirmed that past mistakes would not be repeated.
TERMINATION - See Page B9