business@tribunemedia.net
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2019
$4.56 Flight Services recommendation goes to minister By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE governmentappointed evaluation committee was yesterday said to have submitted its ârecommendationsâ on the Nassau Flight Services (NFS) privatisation to the responsible minister. Algernon Cargill, director of aviation, declined to be drawn on which of the two remaining bidders for the government-owned airport ground handling services provider had been selected as the winner, or if it had suggested neither be named as the preferred choice. âThe committee has finalised its recommendation and given it to the minister,â he said. âWeâve had some discussions and made some recommendations, and I canât comment further. Weâve given the minister the committeeâs considered view of the next steps he should take.â Dionisio DâAguilar, minister of tourism and aviation, and who has oversight of the Nassau Flight Services (NFS) privatisation, said he was travelling in Canada on a tourism promotional trip and had yet to see or read the committeeâs recommendations. âI think thatâs at the stage now where it can be presented to me and I can prepare it for Cabinet,â he said. âThe evaluation has been done. Iâve been travelling, and notwithstanding any further hurdles I can proceed to take it to the Cabinet of The Bahamas for its consideration. âI havenât read the report as yet. Iâm sure there is one. Cabinet has yet to opine and they will probably seek additional information to get a comfort level on whether to sell, to whom, or not.â Tribune Business previously reported that Colin Ingraham and Robert Pantry, the former Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Scotiabank banker, are the principals involved in one of the two remaining bidders. They are thought to be supported by RoyalFidelity Merchant Bank & Trust, which will raise the necessary financing. Besides Mr Cargill, the evaluation committee also included former Central Bank governor, Wendy Craigg, who now chairs the Bahamas Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) Board; Walter Wells; accountant Philip Stubbs; and Ryan Sands, an attorney with the Attorney Generalâs Office. Nassau Flight Servicesâ annual $8m revenues place it well within the range of the Bahamian investor groups targeted by the government. The Minnis administration has long made clear that it views the company as âlow hanging fruitâ when it comes to privatisation, outsourcing and getting the government âout of businessâ.
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Data deal critical to $88m PMH deficit By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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HE âcrashedâ healthcaredata contract was critical to cutting Princess Margaret Hospitalâs $88m income deficit, which exists despite patient days being five timesâ higher than in other Caribbean nations. Documents obtained by Tribune Business reveal that the $18m deal awarded to Allscripts, and its partner Infor Lawson, by the former Christie administration was vital to the introduction of âreal time billing and revenue leakage reductionâ at The Bahamasâ major public hospital. This, in turn, would have narrowed the $88m gap that exists between the $5.678m in revenues collected by Princess Margaret Hospital
DR DUANE SANDS (PMH) for treating patients and its annual $93.747m operating expenses, which are detailed in a position paper presented to the Public Hospitals Authorityâs (PHA) Board of Directors.
Bahamas faces âa big step it needs to climbâ in clawing back a drop-off he described as âperfectly understandableâ given that Dorian had effectively taken Abaco - with its important second home and vacation rental market - offline for many months to come. Disclosing that Abaco and Grand Bahama accounted for almost 200,000 annual stopover visitors between them,
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in annual revenues, respectively, from population bases of just 64,268 and 54,878. Patient days for both stood at 97,419 for Bermuda, and just 23,702 for the Cayman Islands, with the former turning an operating profit on the healthcare it provided. Yet PMH, which dwarfed both territories with 124,828 patient days from a 248,948 Bahamian population, collected just under $6m in revenues. This was despite the report revealing that annual fees billed to patients were projected at $83.7m for the financial year ending June
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Tourism to âclose gapâ over 11% booking fall By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
THE Bahamas is âfocused on closing the gapâ created by a ten to 11 percent falloff in the forward visitor bookings pace for the key 2019-2020 winter season, a Cabinet minister revealed yesterday. Dionisio DâAguilar, pictured, minister of tourism and aviation, told Tribune Business that the booking pace for a period in which hotels and tourism-related businesses earn the bulk of their annual profits âlooks softer than usualâ due to the continued fall-out from Hurricane Dorianâs
âą Peak winter season âsofter than usualâ âą Bahamas has âbig step it needs to climbâ âą Canada to rebound after 5% October drop devastation of Abaco and Grand Bahama. Pledging that the Ministry of Tourism was âbringing our marketing assetsâ to bear on the situation, Mr DâAguilar said he was still âveryâ confident that the gap between current and prior year bookings would narrow given that it was only mid-November. Suggesting that this provides sufficient time to make inroads into the decline, the minister conceded that The
Local institutions to participate in BPL bond issue By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter BAHAMAS Power & Lightâs (BPL) chairman yesterday confirmed that local institutional investors will be able to participate in the utilityâs upcoming mammoth $650m bond refinancing. Dr Donovan Moxey, in a brief exchange with Tribune Business, said: âWhat I can say is the local offering of the bond will be open to institutional investors.â His comments came after himself, together with BPL chief executive Whitney Heastie and Geoffrey Andrews, head of the vehicle that will issue the National Utility Investment Bond, were spotted going into the Cabinet Office for that bodyâs week;y meeting. They were followed by Dr Nicola Virgill-Rolle, the National Insurance Boardâs (NIB) director, and members of her team. While she later declined to comment, Desmond Bannister, minister of works, confirmed that NIB was now mulling whether to buy into the $650m issue. He said: âNIB will review the relevant information and make their decision.â Dr Moxeyâs comments clarify growing confusion and uncertainty in the Bahamian capital markets over whether local investors would be able to participate in the BPL refinancing. While this had been the original plan, with some $100m to $150m eyed for the local market, the absence of any confirmation - indeed, any information - was fuelling growing concerns this might not happen. Several institutional investors, speaking to Tribune Business on condition of anonymity, had voiced suspicions that Citibank, the BPL offeringâs main advisor and placement agent, was seeking to place the entire $650m with the
âą $6m revenues dwarfed by nine-figure rivals âą Despite hospitalâs patient days five timesâ higher âą âCrashedâ contract key to plug bill, revenue loss The paper, which was updated on April 27 this year, reveals that PMHâs income pales alongside the annual nine-figure revenues collected by the health authorities in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. This is despite New Providenceâs Bahamian population being almost four and fives timesâ that of Bermuda and Cayman, with patient days at PMH more than 100,000 higher than those recorded by the latter territoryâs health authorities. The report to the PHA Board discloses that Bermuda and Caymanâs health authorities generated $326.419m and $104.351m
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âWe could sign tomorrowâ with $100m airport offers By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A SENIOR official yesterday said the government âcould sign tomorrowâ with multiple offers as it seeks to raise $100m for the overhaul of four prominent Family Island airports. Algernon Cargill, director of aviation, told Tribune Business that financing proposals were âalready on the tableâ from both local and international investors prior to the government formally approaching the capital markets for funds. Confirming that it had already sounded out local finance houses, RoyalFidelity Merchant Bank & Trust and CFAL, Mr Cargill said the âstrongâ interest shown in teaming with the government in a publicprivate partnership (PPP)
âą Proposals for four-strong package âalready on tableâ âą AVN chief: Shows âconfidenceâ in tourism strength
ALGERNON CARGILL to redevelop these airports represented a show of âconfidenceâ in Bahamian tourismâs product quality post-Dorian. The four airports involved are Exumaâs (Georgetown), North Eleuthera, Deadmanâs Cay in Long Island,
and the ârefurbishmentâ of Abacoâs Leonard Thompson International Airport in Hurricane Dorianâs aftermath. Mr Cargill said the first two account for the bulk of the financing needs, with North Eleuthera likely to prove most expensive due to the need to acquire commonage land for its expansion. âWeâre talking about financing the airports through private-public partnerships,â he told this newspaper, âand have multiple requests from international as well as local financiers to participate. We have offers from locals and internationally that weâre actively considering. âWeâre looking at a
PPP to be able to provide financing for this purpose similar to the arrangement that exists between the government and the Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD). The actual response from the market has been very strong, and we continue to evaluate the proposals we have. âWe already have financing from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), local finance houses that want to participate with the government, CFAL and RoyalFidelity, and thereâs the international financiers that continue to approach us to provide financing and management support.â Mr Cargill said the government already possesses
$35m in IDB financing to kick-start the necessary construction works, and revealed that it is seeking a further $100m to complete the funding for the four airports selected for priority attention. âWeâre looking to raise $100m to finance these airports,â he told Tribune Business. âThe Exuma airport is ready for tender. Thatâs $40m. The North Eleuthera airport will be a duplicate of Exuma, and will be more expensive. âWe have the Deadmanâs Cay airport in the design phase, thatâs $10m-$15m, and the refurbishment of the airport in Abaco postDorian will be between $5m-$8m.â The government leased the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) to
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