11132021 BUSINESS

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business@tribunemedia.net

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021

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opponents seize Developer: Residency Oilon BPC financial file ease for ‘American first’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

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BAHAMIAN developer poised to break ground on a $50m project yesterday urged the government to resolve tax and permanent residency bottlenecks for the country to exploit an “American first”. Jason Kinsale, Aristo Development’s principal, told Tribune Business The Bahamas needed to complete and launch its tax residency certificate while also reducing the permanent residency approvals time to just one month with American real estate buyers suddenly interested in the latter product given the political unrest back home. Confirming that he plans to start construction on his latest project, the 11-storey Aqualina development at Cable Beach, by April, Mr Kinsale said he and Aristo Development had received a sudden flurry of residency inquiries from potential US purchasers within just two months. Disclosing that such requests from Americans had previously been unheard of, he also revealed

• Urges tax, permanent residency bottleneck end • Says Americans in ‘unheard of’ status inquiries • $50m project 30% sold; targeting April start

JASON Kinsale, developer of Aqualina, pictured. that 30 percent of Aqualina’s 27 units priced at between $2.6m to just over $9m have already been pre-sold prior to ground breaking. Mr Kinsale said himself and other Bahamian developers, together with the wider real estate market, were also benefiting from COVID-19 accelerating the trend towards home working. With high net worth investors and businessmen realising they can work from anywhere that provides the necessary Internet capacity, he added

that many were seeking to escape the harsh winter and pandemic restrictions. Urging the government to fully promote the Bahamas’ extended work/study visa to this market, the Aristo chief said the Airbnb/vacation rental product at his One Cable Beach development was presently enjoying 90 percent occupancies with clients opting for extended stays of one to three months instead of the traditional week-long visits pre-COVID. “We’re just moving forward with Aqualina, and it’s our intent to break ground in April,” Mr Kinsale said

of the planned $50m construction spend. “We’re just going through the permitting process now. We’re 30 percent sold already. The market dynamics have changed quite a bit. “We see a tremendous amount of activity in the islands, the private islands, and Exuma and Eleuthera. This is also the first time we’ve seen Americans looking for residency [in The Bahamas]. They are seeking a second option because of the political unrest in the US.” Asked by Tribune Business how many US residency requests he had received, Mr Kinsale replied: “We’ve had five to six inquiries for residency in the last two months. It’s the first time anybody’s heard of Americans looking for residency.” Suggesting that other developers and realtors were seeing similar trends, he said Americans had traditionally been more focused on using The Bahamas for tax-related purposes. The Aristo chief

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OIL exploration opponents yesterday seized on Bahamas Petroleum Company’s (BPC) latest corporate filing to argue their assertion that it lacked sufficient funding for its first well had been proven correct. Environmental activists, who failed to persuade the Supreme Court to halt BPC’s exploratory drilling despite being given permission to proceed with the Judicial Review challenge to the project’s permits, told Tribune Business the company’s latest disclosure shows it only possessed $32.5m in cash to cover the Perseverance One well’s $35m costs when it mobilised the Stena IceMAX drill ship. They jumped on a summary of BPC’s post-August 2019 capital raising efforts, which said: “By the time of mobilisation of the Stena IceMAX, BPC had secured $32.5m in cash, ($2m of preexisting cash and $30.5m in cash raised incrementally), and had issued approximately 1.26bn shares to secure that funding. This was against a clearly articulated anticipated Perseverance One well cost of up to $35m.” Casuarina McKinneyLambert, the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF)

executive director, yesterday told this newspaper of BPC: “It appears, from their own filings, that BPC did not have adequate funding to complete the well at the time that they started drilling. This also leaves us concerned as to whether they have sufficient funding to address any unforeseen incidents. “We have also been trying to understand the insurance coverages that they may have in place and whether they are sufficient to address clean-up and restoration in The Bahamas and neighbouring countries. The company also stated that they have ‘tourism and fisheries covered’ and we still do not understand what that statement means.” BPC’s finances, and whether it has sufficient funding to complete the Perseverance One well in waters 90 miles west of Andros, is an issue that was raised in the Judicial Review challenge. Joe Darville, the Save the Bays executive chairman, alleged in an affidavit that financing - rather than the COVID-19 pandemic - was responsible for BPC delaying plans to start drilling in March/April 2020. “It is very clear, upon a review of [BPC’s] June financial statements, that BPC needed the [licence] extension for other reasons

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Digital to become ‘dominant part’ of RF group’s plans By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN-headquartered investment bank’s top executive yesterday predicted digital assets will eventually become “a dominant part of our business” as it unveiled its tie-up with a technology provider. Michael Anderson, pictured, president and chief executive of RF Holdings, the former RoyalFidelity Merchant Bank & Trust, told Tribune Business that its partnership with Bitt, a regional financial technology player, will initially focus on making

digital currencies such as the Bahamian Sand Dollar available to its clients as a payment means to settle transactions. Revealing that the investment bank, which also has a presence in Barbados and the Cayman Islands, is

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No break down for PM’s $1bn in investment By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net THE prime minister last night said The Bahamas received “more than $1bn” in international investment projects in 2020 although no break down of these developments was provided. Dr Hubert Minnis, pictured, in a national address that appeared largely designed to tout his government’s achievements in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, also said downtown Nassau was the recipient

of more than $1bn in new and ongoing construction projects that “will help to revitalise our city centre and tourism services”.

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