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TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017
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Foreign creditor outrage on 2% Baha Mar offers By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
Baha Mar’s outraged foreign creditors were last night talking of class action lawsuits, after being offered claim settlements as low as 2 per cent of what they are owed. James Smith, the committee’s chairman, confirmed that the settlement offers were as low as those indicated on documents passed to Tribune Business yesterday. He emphasised, though, that the foreign creditor recoveries were similar to what would likely have been obtained had Baha Mar
Slam ‘cents on the dollar’ settlements as ‘ridiculous’ Talk darkly of class action lawsuits Claims chief: Remember ‘exgratia’ payment nature James Smith gone through the US Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. And the former finance minister reiterated that the claimants should be grateful for what they were receiv-
ing, given that the payments were coming from the $100 million made available by the China Export-Import Bank, which has no obligation to take responsibility
for Baha Mar’s debts. Mr Smith was commenting after Tribune Business obtained documents confirming that some foreign creditors will recover little to nothing of what they are owed. A Latin American creditor, whose name is being withheld by this newspaper, was offered a small fourfigure sum as compensation for a debt confirmed as being in the high five-figures. This worked out as equivalent to $0.02, or two cents, out of every dollar owed. The settlement offer, which was only received this week despite being dated November 20, 2016, was See pg b4
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FINCO cuts staff 70% in five years By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net FINCO has slashed staffing levels by 70 per cent over the past five years, as it continues to outsource back office functions to its parent in a bid to cut costs in a low growth environment. The BISX-listed mortgage lender, which is 75 per cent owned by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), revealed in its just-released annual report that staff numbers have declined from 97 in 2012 to just 29 at the 2016 year-end at October 31. Last year’s employee headcount also represent-
RBC outsource drove 54% worker slash in 2016 Lender warns on Homeowner Bill ‘uncertainty’ Mortgage delinquencies ‘unacceptably high’ ed a 54 per cent reduction on 2015’s 63, although it is unclear whether all were made redundant or merely See pg b5
New Environment Bill ia ‘an empty promise’ Providence boss in landfill talks Sarkis calls out Govt on
Baha Mar sale details
By NATARIO McKENZIE
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
The Prime Minister yesterday confirmed he has become personally involved in selecting a new manager for the New Providence landfill, with a well-known Bahamian financial executive involved in one of the groups the Government is talking to Mr Christie said: “I recently involved myself as Prime Minister in the process of selecting a new management company for that entire area, and for the more effective management of the site, introducing greater levels of technology and resources. “We had meetings with a foreign entity with the capacity and assets that they manage in the US, and we met with a Bahamian group who advanced a foreign partnership with the expertise and resources. They are
Baha Mar’s original developer last night urged the Government to “end the speculation” by releasing all agreements related to the project’s opening, as his verbal battle with the Government re-ignited following a lull of several months. Sarkis Izmirlian and his BMD Holdings vehicle said they “stand by” their previous statement that Baha Mar is a ‘Potemkin hotel’ being used “to deceive Bahamians into thinking the situation is better than it really is”, as the Christie administration pushed back hard. A Government statement, which appeared to come from the Attorney General’s Office, challenged Mr Izmirlian’s assertion that the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection process he initiated would have produced a speedier resolution to Baha Mar’s woes than the Supreme Court-supervised mechanism eventually used. The Government, again playing up the sovereignty/ nationalist line, described Mr Izmirlian’s weekend assertions as “unpatriotic”, and argued that his decision to head to Delaware meant “he lost all credibility as someone who could claim to have the interest of his Bahamian employees or contractors at heart”. Arguing that Mr
Urges: ‘End speculation’ by revealing agreements Govt blasts developer’s Chapter 11 devotion Downplays delayed Spring 2018 Rosewood open Izmirlian’s Chapter 11 restructuring plan had been “devoid of details”, the Government said this exposed the fact that the original developer lacked the necessary financing to complete Baha Mar and bring it out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Questioning how Mr Izmirlian would have obtained new debt financing, given that all Baha Mar’s assets had been mortgaged to its $2.45 billion lender, the China Export-Import Bank, the Government said the constant statements to the media were merely attempts to deflect from his “failure”. And, taking on Mr Izmirlian’s statement that he remained “ready, willing and able” to purchase Baha Mar, the Government cast doubt on whether the original developer had since obtained the necessary See pg b6
Tribune Business Reporter
nmckenzie@tribunemdida.net
PM ‘personally involved’ in new manager search
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
The promised Environmental Planning and ProBill was yesterday Minister: Funding to tection slammed as “an empty and come through PPP vacuous promise” by Save the Bays’ legal director, who argued it could have represented by one of the prevented the current landfinancial leaders in the pri- fill inferno if implemented vate sector, Kenwood Kerr earlier. Fred Smith QC, the Calof Providence Advisors. “Together, we were ap- lenders & Co attorney partproaching the final sort of ner, told Tribune Business concluding aspects of deter- he had little faith the Govmining a new management ernment was serious about company, and the introduc- greater environmental protion of the measures that tection given the timing of we believe would in fact the Bill’s unveiling. The draft Bill, unveiled eliminate forever and forever the kind of tragic cir- by Kenred Dorsett, miniscumstances that took place ter of the environment and housing, last week, comes out there.” Mr Kerr declined to as the Christie administracomment when contacted tion enters the final months by Tribune Business yes- of its five-year term in ofterday, but it is understood fice. For that reason, Mr Smith that the ‘foreign’ element to his group is connected to described the Bill, which See pg b4 See pg b5
Timing means Save the Bays QC has ‘no faith’
Earlier enactment could have stopped landfill inferno Warns against making BEST new enforcer
Fred Smith QC