08302017 business

business@tribunemedia.net

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2017

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Liquidators disclose no adverse Sarkis findings

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE POINTE

But decline ‘conclusion’ on Baha Mar owner

BAHA Mar’s liquidators yesterday made no criticisms of Sarkis Izmirlian and his fellow directors, despite revealing the project had been left insolvent with multi-billion dollar liabilities.

Their final report to the Supreme Court, obtained by Tribune Business, contains no adverse findings regarding the original Baha Mar developer’s conduct from the time he elected to place the then-$3.5 billion project into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

CHINESE SEEK ‘URGENT ASSISTANCE’ FROM GOVT ON POINTE APPROVALS

Receivers transferred $700k without approval Land swaps executed to end Breezes battle Baha Mar’s liquidators, in a November 25, 2016, letter to remaining creditors, had pledged they would “conduct summary investigations into See PG B3

SARKIS IZMIRLIAN

Minister: Developer has ‘some issues to resolve’

THE BAHA MAR RESORT

‘SUFFOCATING’ KYC CAUSES Chamber slams Christie LAWYER 5-YEAR BANK WAIT Govt’s insurance cancel

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A WELL-known QC yesterday revealed “suffocating” Know Your Customer (KYC) rules have blocked his five-year effort to add another lawyer to his firm’s bank account.

Fred Smith QC, the Callenders & Co attorney and partner, told Tribune Business that the KYC regulations - and the manner in which they are being enforced - are “stifling” Bahamian commerce and making this nation’s economy uncompetitive.

Describing the KYC as “the tail that wags the economic dog”, Mr Smith said the Bahamas was “shooting itself in the foot” as a result of the bureaucracy, delays and frustration it caused when trying to conduct commercial transactions.

He urged the Minnis administration to legislate “reasonable” KYC reforms See PG B2

QC: Institutions going to compliance ‘extreme’ Commerce, competitiveness being ‘stifled’ Urges Govt to legislate ‘reasonable’ KYC

FRED SMITH QC

Informal sector’s 1/4 economy share may be ‘too conservative’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net ESTIMATES that the ‘informal’ economy accounts for around onequarter of Bahamian output may be too “conservative”, the Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive said yesterday.

Edison Sumner told Tribune Business the results of an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) study, which pegged the ‘informal’ economy as accounting for between 15 per cent to 28.6 per cent of Bahamian GDP activity in 2012, were “not surprising”.

“The numbers are not surprising at all, and may even be a bit on the conservative side,” he said.

“We’ve always had businesses operating informally - hawkers and retail operations that are not licensed.

“It is a real concern that so many companies and businesses operate that way.

It’s not unique to the Bahamas, but it still represents a concern to the degree we would like to see more of them being formalised and operating under the rules

‘Real concern’ over non-legitimate sector’s size Chamber chief: Creates ‘unlevel playing field’ that govern other businesses in the country.”

The IDB study estimated that the Bahamas has the smallest ‘informal’ sector out of all major Caribbean economies, but it still accounts for a major percentage of economic activity and GDP output.

Firms operating in this sector are frequently described as operating ‘in the shadows’, not paying due taxes such as VAT and Business Licenses, and failing to make National Insurance Board (NIB) contributions on employees’ behalf.

These practices result in an increased tax burden for those Bahamian businesses ‘playing by the rules’, and Value-Added Tax’s (VAT) introduction sparked efforts See PG B4

Request sent days after Beijing strategy switch

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net HURRICANE Matthew’s fiscal impact means the Christie administration was “obviously incorrect and wrong” to cancel the Bahamas’ disaster insurance, the Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive said yesterday.

Edison Sumner urged the new government to “reconsider and review” the decision to exit the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), a move that ignited political controversy following suggestions the Bahamas could have been eligible for a $32 million payout.

He spoke after the Chamber itself described the Christie administration’s decision as “most unfortunate”, given that such a payout would have reduced the Government’s $150 million

CCRIF facility end ‘obviously incorrect and wrong’ Minnis administration urged to ‘reconsider’ emergency borrowing post-Matthew in return for a $900,000 premium payment.

“It was most unfortunate that the Government made a decision to cancel its catastrophic insurance coverage with the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) only months before the hurricane,” the Chamber said in a statement responding to the Bahamas escaping a Moody’s ‘downgrade’.

See PG B4

Doesn’t ‘anticipate difficulty’ with China’s policy

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE $250 million Pointe project’s Chinese developer urged the Government to quickly provide construction approvals just days after Beijing unveiled plans to restrict overseas investments.

Daniel Liu, head of the China Construction America (CCA) entity behind the downtown Nassau project, wrote to the Minnis administration on August 22, 2017, seeking “immediate assistance” for the Pointe’s condominium and marina construction approvals.

The letter, addressed to Desmond Bannister, minister of works, was written just four days after China’s State Council and its top economic planning body placed overseas hotel investments by Chinese companies - and especially state-owned ones such as CCA - in a ‘restricted’ category.

The impact this new strategy will have on both the $4.2 billion Baha Mar project and the Pointe remains unclear, but CCA is clearly eager to obtain the necessary planning and construction approvals to complete its investment.

Mr Liu’s letter, which has been obtained

by Tribune Business, refers to a meeting with Mr Bannister on Monday, August 14, See PG B2

PAGE 2, Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Chinese seek ‘urgent assistance’ from Govt on Pointe approvals From pg B1 to discuss the Pointe’s progress or lack of it.

“We would like to draw attention to two major, open items that require immediate assistance, being condominium piling approval and marina permit/marina construction approval,” the Neworld One Bay Street president wrote.

“We thoroughly enjoyed updating you and the Ministry on our project, and to discuss what is required from the Ministry of Works in order for us to commence the construction (and completion) thereof.”

Mr Bannister confirmed the meeting with the Pointe’s developer to Tribune Business, but indicated that the Government would not be rushed into providing the approvals CCA and its affiliate are seeking.

“We met with CCA about a week and a half

ago,” the Minister said.

“There were some matters they have to resolve.

“The engineers, planning control people are looking at them, and as soon as they are satisfied about all the issues raised, they will issue the permits. There were some issues that have to be resolved.”

Mr Bannister did not detail the requirements that CCA must satisfy to proceed with the Pointe’s development, although Tribune Business understands that the approval process will require input from both the Town Planning Committee and the Bahamas Environment, Science and Technology ( BEST) Commission.

This newspaper was also informed that Neworld One Bay Street may have fallen behind on payments for the Crown Land seabed lease, although Mr Bannister said he was unable to confirm if this was accurate. Calls to the Pointe’s

‘Suffocating’ KYC causes lawyer 5-year bank wait From pg B1 that reined in “out-of-control” compliance officers, while still ensuring that the Bahamas can combat money laundering and terror financing.

“I’ve been fighting the major banks and everybody for so long, but I’ve reached a point of no return with a transaction,” Mr Smith told Tribune Business. “I have been trying to add a partner of the law firm as a signatory to our bank account for the past five years, and I have been completely frustrated by our bankers.

“KYC is suffocating the Bahamian economy. Banks that have my personal business, and those of my companies for decades, all of whom have known me for the last 40 years, are

demanding all kinds of further intrusive information.”

Mr Smith said banks and other financial institutions were undertaking KYC review of clients every six-12 months, asking long-standing clients who they well know for confirmation of utility bills, declarations of trust and other documents which they already have on file.

“I have clients from abroad who have been trying to open a bank account for seven to eight months and are unable to do so,” he added, “even though their businesses have got approval from the Grand Bahama Port Authority and the Government to conduct business.

“God forbid if you try to add a new director on your company’s account,

THE TRIBUNE spokesperson, Leslie Pindling, were not returned before press time.

“We wouldn’t be concerned about payment. We are concerned strictly with technical issues,” Mr Bannister said. “The issues for us are purely technical issues, protecting the Bahamian people and ensuring all the rules are complied with.”

When asked whether Beijing’s new investment directives would impact the Pointe, Baha Mar and other Chinese projects in the Bahamas, the Minister replied: “We didn’t have that discussion.”

He then added: “We don’t anticipate that there are going to be any issues with respect to that. I don’t anticipate there are going to be any difficulties whatsoever.”

The Chinese government’s crackdown on “irrational” overseas investments has created a new element of uncertainty for the Baha Mar and the Pointe projects as efforts are made to progress them towards completion.

Beijing, on August 18, announced a ban on overseas gambling investments

by Chinese companies, although it is unclear whether this applies to Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE) decision to operate Baha Mar’s casino via its Sky Warrior entity.

And hotel investments were placed in the ‘restricted’ category.

Some observers believe the changed strategy will not apply to existing investments or projects underway, with both Baha Mar and the Pointe falling into the latter category.

Baha Mar, especially, is at an advanced stage of construction/transaction completion, with the property’s substantial completion date set for October 15. Once achieved, this will trigger completion of the $4.2 billion property’s sale by the China ExportImport Bank to CTFE. Given that the bank is state-owned, a sale to a privately-owned Hong Kong entity is unlikely to be interrupted or delayed by the new investment policy, as the Beijing government will likely be keen to exit.

The Pointe appears more vulnerable to the change, given that CCA and its parent, China State

Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), are also state-owned. Again, though, commercial reality would likely dictate the project is unlikely to be left half-finished.

Mr Liu, in his letter to Mr Bannister, reminded the Minnis administration that CCA views the Pointe as a catalyst for downtown Nassau’s wider redevelopment.

“We envision the Pointe to be the catalyst for the downtown [Nassau] rehabilitation project, and invigorating the downtown tourism product,” he wrote. CCA has repeatedly expressed its enthusiasm for assisting with this effort, both financially and in the planning, and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Jamaica’s government for a similar project involving downtown Kingston.

Mr Liu added that CCA had “compiled an extensive file” setting out “the various stages” of approvals for the Pointe, the government agencies involved and the submission of its drawings.

“We wish to gather all outstanding items, and wish to work to complete

this file in the quickest timeframe possible,” he reiterated.

Ground breaking for the Pointe’s latest development phase took place in early March 2017 under the former Christie administration. Once approved, it will include a 100-room, eight storey condominium complex with oceanfront residences, originally due to open in September 2018.

A 150-room branded resort and spa with business centre, dining and retail amenities was scheduled to open in November 2018. Once completed, the Pointe will include a marina and yacht club, 50,000 square feet of retail and office space, restaurants, upscale shopping and entertainment venues, such as a performing arts centre, movie theatre, nightclub and roof top bar.

Some 500 permanent jobs will be created, but completion of this phase has likely now been pushed back into 2019.

The Pointe’s first phase was centred on the parking garage, which now dominates the entrance to downtown Nassau on West Bay Street.

or change the signatory on the account or a company officer/director should die.

You have to start all over again. It’s become impossible to do business in the Bahamas.”

Mr Smith’s comments are likely to strike a chord with many Bahamians and those in the private sector, many of whom can relate similar stories about difficulties experienced in opening bank accounts or obtaining key government documents due to the strict KYC regime and identification requirements.

The Bahamas’ KYC laws have frequently attracted criticism since they were upgraded in 2000 in a bid to escape the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) ‘blacklist’, many suggesting it is far easier to open a bank account in Miami or New York compared to Nassau because this nation’s reforms went too far.

Mr Smith acknowledged that a KYC regime was

essential to the Bahamas fulfilling its international obligations, and its role in the global fight to combat money laundering, terrorism financing and organised crime.

“In concept it is good,” he told Tribune Business.

“However, the Bahamas has taken it to unbelievable extremes to frustrate Bahamians and the economy in general.

“It is almost impossible for people to conduct business in the Bahamas given the current and new demands for KYC. Many of the banks and compliance agencies throughout the country have imposed even greater scrutiny in KYC, and are forgetting that it is not supposed to be the tail that wags the economic dog.

“Business in a capitalist, free enterprise society is supposed to be facilitative and without unnecessary restrictions. The Bahamas is shooting itself in the foot

because its regulatory agencies and, in particular, the banks and compliance officers at many law firms and financial institutions have gone above and beyond the call of duty and requirements of the law. They have taken this to the extreme.”

Mr Smith said the resulting frustration often resulted in commercial transactions not being completed, and added that “the extent to which KYC is required at some law firms prevents the incorporation of companies intended to purchase land”.

Explaining that clients sometimes wished to purchase real estate using companies, Mr Smith said incorporation would be delayed until KYC was completed - even if the beneficial owner had been a client for many years.

He added that utility bills, police certificates and letters of reference would again be required even if “it’s the same person”, and said:

“What’s happened is that compliance officers at law firms, regulatory agencies, banks and financial institutions have lost the plot.

“The plot is to have made reasonable and appropriate efforts to know the client and their sources of income, and once that is done you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. The client remains the same, whether in the guise of a company or personal capacity.”

Mr Smith added that further ‘red tape’ was caused by the need to complete KYC “many times over” when dealing with government agencies such as the National Economic Council (NEC), Investments Board and Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA).

“I urge the Government to take steps to legislate reasonable KYC requirements, so that the compliance officers aren’t going above and beyond the call of duty,” he told Tribune Business.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, August 30, 2017, PAGE 3

Chinese company gains Bahamas broker licence THE subsidiary of a Chinese financial technology (fintech) company has obtained a Bahamian broker/dealer licence from the Securities Commission of the Bahamas.

TigerWit Group, in a release issued yesterday, said its TigerWit Financial Services affiliate was now authorised to operate from the Bahamas.

It added that it can act as an agent and principal, and arrange and advise on securities - including CFDs (contracts for difference) in Forex (foreign exchange), indices, commodities and metals - to retail and wholesale clients.

Formed in 2015 by its co-founders, Summer Xu and Weilong Song, TigerWit said the Bahamas’ licence was part of an

Liquidators disclose no adverse Sarkis findings From pg B1 the conduct of the directors of the companies” prior to their appointment last year.

However, their final report dated August 25, 2017, stops well short of this, making no mention of any such probe and the findings that may have flowed from it. It only states that the liquidators “have undertaken their statutory investigation work”, referring merely to a review of all bank transactions six months prior to their appointment.

Bahamian accountant Ed Rahming, who teamed with UK-based Nicholas Cropper and Alastair Beveridge on the liquidation, yesterday declined to make “a conclusionary statement” regarding Mr Izmirlian and the former Board.

“I would say they were co-operative and provided us with the information we needed to conduct our review,” Mr Rahming told Tribune Business. “When me met the companies it was self-evident, given the account balances, that they were insolvent. They were no longer a going concern.”

Ministers in the former Christie administration would likely argue that Mr Izmirlian was the ‘author of his downfall’, and that he has to take responsibility for Baha Mar’s insolvency because he initiated the flawed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection strategy in a bid to protect his family’s $850 million equity and retain ownership/control of the project.

Others, though, will counter that Mr Izmirlian’s actions and Baha Mar’s eventual fall into receivership and insolvency stemmed from the repeated failure of China Construction America (CCA), the project’s main contractor, to complete the development on time and on budget.

Apart from Mr Izmirlian, Baha Mar’s original Board included now-tourism minister, Dionisio D’Aguilar, and a high-level CCA representative in Tiger Wu. Mr D’Aguilar, responding to the liquidators’ ‘summary investigation’ announcement last year,

argued then that they will “not find one bloody thing” that the former directors did wrong.

The bland nature of the liquidators’ report backs Mr D’Aguilar’s initial confidence, although Mr Rahming yesterday argued that Baha Mar’s receivership and liquidation, and subsequent sale to Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE), was the best outcome for the Bahamas in the circumstances.

“It’s probably the best play for everybody,” he told Tribune Business. “One could say it’s unfortunate it [Baha Mar’s receivership] happened, but given the process and time it took up, and the difficulties faced, I want to say it was successful, but that’s probably too strong a word.

“We’ve been able to progress the liquidation fairly quickly, and the property is open with people working.

The majority of creditors, Bahamian and non-Bahamian, have been paid the majority of what was owed to them, and it has happened as quickly as possible given the size and complexity of the matter.”

Mr Rahming said the China Export-Import Bank, Baha Mar’s $2.45 billion secured creditor, deserved credit for making $101 million available to pay the project’s unsecured Bahamian creditors even though it had no obligation to do so.

He and his UK counterparts took over the seven Baha Mar companies subject to the bank’s mortgage security in late 2016, after their assets - chiefly the project’s resorts and real estate - had been ‘purchased’ by the latter’s Perfect Luck special purpose vehicle (SPV).

Given that the sale details were ‘sealed’ by the Supreme Court, the liquidators’ report confirms they are unable to conclude that the purchase price represents ‘fair value’.

“The [then] joint provisional liquidators, however, reviewed the supporting application and understand (based on the limited information provided to them) that the sale price represented a fair value for the project,” the August 25 report states. “It has been

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• Strong organizational and time management skills • Excellent oral and written communication skills To apply: Send CV to P.O. Box N-4105.

Responses will only be communicated to those persons meeting all qualifications

expansion plan that involves opening offices in multiple jurisdictions so that it can offer financial services on a global basis.

It added that Andrew Rolle, a qualified Bahamian attorney and investment analyst, had been appointed chief executive of its Bahamian subsidiary.

Ms Xu said: “Receiving the Securities Commission of the Bahamas’ regulatory

licence is a very important milestone for TigerWit Group and our clients.

“At TigerWit we aim to provide our clients with not only the best online and mobile trading service, but the appropriate protections so that they can be safe in the knowledge they are dealing with a wellregulated entity whose interests are aligned with theirs. We are delighted to

have the expertise of Mr Andrew Rolle, who will ably ensure that we fulfill our obligations as a regulated broker.”

Tanya McCartney, the Bahamas Financial Services Board’s (BFSB) chief executive, added: “We welcome TigerWit Financial Services as a newly-licenced entity in the Bahamas, and as the newest member of the BFSB.

“TigerWit joins a growing list of globallyoperating financial services firms that are authorised by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas. We are pleased that TigerWit has chosen the Bahamas, and recognises the advantages and benefits gained under Securities Commission regulations as a base to grow their global brokerage.”

noted that the secured creditor [China Export-Import Bank] suffered a significant shortfall in its lending from the sale.”

Following their December 9, 2016, appointment as full liquidators, Mr Rahming and his UK colleagues obtained Supreme Court approval to take over 17 other Baha Mar group companies not covered by the China Export-Import Bank’s mortgage security.

One of these was BM Leasing, from which Scotiabank (Bahamas) and Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) lease their Cable Beach bank branches. The liquidators revealed that Baha Mar’s receivers, Deloitte & Touche, transferred $767,600 from BM Leasing to companies their controlled without their permission.

“It should be noted that the joint receiver/managers transferred funds from the BM Leasing bank account on four separate occasions, three of which occurred subsequent to our appointment as official liquidators,” the latter said.

“The first transfer occurred on August 30, 2016, in the amount of $540,000. The second transfer occurred on October 12, 2016, in the amount of $77,600; the third transfer was $88,000 on December 7, 2016, and the fourth transfer was for $62,018.53 on March 17, 2017.

“The amounts were transferred to Baha Mar Ltd by the joint receiver/managers. The amounts relate to rental receipts from Scotiabank and Fidelity Bank for BM Land Holdings, a joint receiver/manager group entity.”

The liquidators, though, said there was no trust or management agreement to facilitate money transfers between BM Land Holdings and BM Leasing.

To resolve the matter, they said: “In March 2017, we agreed with the joint receiver/managers not to pursue the return of the funds removed without our authorisation from the BM Leasing bank account.

“It was agreed that liquidation costs to the extent of the transfers from the BM Leasing bank account would be paid by China Export-Import Bank to the liquidators.” The receivers are Raymond Winder, Deloitte & Touche (Bahamas) managing partner, and two Hong Kong-based colleagues.

Mr Rahming and his UK counterparts also confirmed that had obtained Supreme Court approvals to facilitate the land swap transactions with SuperClubs Breezes that would end the all-inclusive resort’s ownership of Baha Mar’s “casino floor”.

“In April and May 2017, the liquidators sought and obtained court sanction to enter into Novation and Mutual Release Agreements to address the Breezes resort land litigation and land swap matter,” the liquidators’ report said.

“Agreements were executed on May 12, 2017. The Breezes resort land litigation matter was a long-standing

dispute involving land the project is located upon. The resolution, which included the agreements executed by the liquidators, was necessary for the project’s operation moving forward.”

“To the best of my knowledge, that has been settled,” Mr Rahming told Tribune Business. “We’ve signed off on all the agreements, as have the receivers.

“We’re talking about property that sat in the middle of the project. I understand it was in the middle of the casino floor. It needed to happen.”

Tribune Business sources yesterday confirmed that the litigation between Baha Mar and Breezes had ended, and transaction/conveyancing attorneys were now completing the final details on the land swap.

Mr Rahming added that the liquidators “now really need to sit down with the Government and agree their portion of the fees to be paid [to us], having done similar with the

China Export-Import Bank already.

Their report pegs the liquidation costs at $1.4 million from September 30, 2016, to July 31 this year, with just $800,000 received todate from the bank and the Government. This leaves a $600,000 shortfall to be covered, although Mr Rahming added: “We don’t see it as an issue.”

The winding-up of Mr Izmirlian’s Baha Mar entities will be completed at a final September 20, 2017, creditors meeting. The financials suggest that the seven companies covered by the China Export-Import Bank’s security were insolvent to the tune of $9.95 billion at December 6, 2016, although this figure is inflated by monies owed between these entities.

It was the same for the 17 other companies subsequently taken under the liquidators’ care, where the total shortfall to creditors was calculated as $5.048 billion.

PAGE 4, Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Chamber slams Christie Govt’s insurance cancel From pg B1 “As a result, the Government cancelled a known and calculated expense of an insurance premium for an unknown expense from damages caused by Hurricane Matthew, which cost the Government in excess of $150 million in capital and other expenses. This was a revelation that was not disclosed until after that fact.

“It would be advisable for the Government to reconsider its position regarding securing catastrophic insurance coverage to ensure that its capital assets are protected and covered in the event of a natural or other disaster, and to mitigate its risk exposure. Government should be encouraged to work along with the general insurance industry to ensure the insurance coverage is accessible and affordable to all persons.”

The Chamber added that the 2016-2017 deficit,

and other projections, has been substantially blown off course by Matthew’s impact, which both reduced revenues and economic activity and increased spending.

The Christie administration had initially forecast just a $100 million deficit for 2016-2017, which Matthew turned into $350 million under its cashbased accounting methods.

Its successor added to that figure by including its preelection spending splurge in that year’s calculations.

Mr Sumner yesterday argued that what the Bahamas would have spent with CCRIF paled into comparison with Matthew’s repair budget, as the storm was estimated to have inflicted some $600-$700 million in actual damage.

“It’s better to know for financial management and planning what your costs are,” he told Tribune Business. “It’s small compared to what we have to pay now in terms of the outlay

THE TRIBUNE for the hurricane we have to deal with. The Government had to borrow $150 million.

“I think it’s more prudent to pay an insurance policy that assist in deferring the expenditure incurred in these kinds of disasters....

It would be prudent for the Government to reconsider and revisit the insurance policy and pay the amount, so that if these events occur again we will not have such a strain on the Treasury.”

Controversy over the former administration’s decision to exit the CCRIF facility was stoked during the Budget debate, when Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis read out a letter from its chief executive suggesting the Bahamas had missed out on a $32 million Matthew payout.

Dr Minnis told Parliament: “He (the CEO) wrote: ‘We are pleased that the Bahamas has been a member of CCRIF since its inception in 2007.

We are pleased that the Government purchased tropical cyclone (hurricane) policies every year between 2007 and 2014, and also purchased policies

for both tropical cyclones and excess rainfall for the 2015-2016 policy year.

“However, we deeply regret that the Government decided not to renew its CCRIF policies for the 2016-2017 year, resulting in the Bahamas missing out on two CCRIF payouts from Tropical Cyclone Matthew.’”

Dr Minnis added: “I note that the annual policy for this insurance facility was approximately $900,000. I was shocked by what the CEO of the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility went on to say in his letter.

“He stated: ‘Based on the registered losses, it means that had the Government of the Bahamas renewed its tropical cyclone policy for 2016-2017, using the previous year’s policy conditions, the policy would have triggered, resulting in a payout of approximately $31.8 million, equal to the coverage limit’.”

This would have been the single biggest payout, according to the Prime Minister, ever made by CCRIF to any country.

Asian stocks fall, rattled by North Korean missile launch

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly lower Tuesday, as the region was rattled by a ballistic missile launch in which the projectile flew over Japan and fell into the Pacific Ocean.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.6 percent to 19,331.50, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped nearly 1.0 percent to 5,653.60 in early trading.

South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.4 percent to 2,337.88. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.2 percent to 27,802.15, while the Shanghai Composite inched up nearly 0.2 percent to 3,367.99.

MISSILE NEWS: North Korea fired a ballistic

THE NEW York Stock Exchange.

U.S. stocks are rising early Monday, Aug. 28, 2017, with health care companies making some of the largest gains. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

missile that flew over Japan before plunging into the northern Pacific Ocean, an aggressive test-flight over a close U.S. ally that sends a

clear message of defiance as Washington and Seoul conduct war games nearby.

WALL STREET: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index picked up 1.19 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,444.24. The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 5.27 points to 21,808.40. The Nasdaq composite rose 17.37 points, or 0.3 percent, to 6,283.02. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gained 4.78 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,382.23.

Most of the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange fell.

STORM FEARS: U.S. trading had focused on the effects of Tropical Storm Harvey in the absence of other market-moving news. Large parts of the energy and petrochemical

industries are based in the Houston area and companies with a lot of stores in the area stand to lose business. While gas price spikes will be temporary, other effects of the storm will last for years. The U.S. Federal Reserve might hesitate to raise interest rates if they think the storm will slow the economy significantly.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude added 22 cents to $46.79 a barrel. It fell $1.30 to $46.57 a barrel in New York Monday. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 20 cents to $51.62 a barrel.

CURRENCIES: The euro rose to $1.1969 from $1.1926. The dollar fell to 108.82 yen from 109.18 yen late Monday in Asia.

The Bahamas’ excess rainfall policy would also have been triggered, resulting in a payout of $855,874.

Those payouts would have been larger depending on the coverage purchased, Dr Minnis said.

CCRIF made payouts totalling $29.204 million to its other four CCRIF member countries affected

by Hurricane Matthew - Haiti, Barbados, Saint Lucia and St Vincent & the Grenadines - within 14 days of the event.

However, Philip Davis, the Opposition leader, said the Christie administration only withdrew from CCRIF on the advice of several government agencies.

And Tribune Business sources said it ceased paying the annual $900,000 premium after it was advised that the likelihood of ever receiving a payout was “almost zero”.

Following Hurricane Matthew’s passage, Michael Halkitis, then-minister of state for finance, said the Government had ceased the annual premium payments because the Bahamas would only

have received compensation in the event of a Category Five hurricane.

Matthew came through the Bahamas as a Category Three/Four storm, and Mr Halkitis said the Christie administration had decided to drop CCRIF participation and establish its own disaster fund as “the threshold was just too high”.

And a source familiar with the matter told Tribune Business: “We have been a part of this thing for 20 years, and could never get a claim. Our information was that the likelihood of us getting a claim was almost zero.

“A committee had been put together comprised of persons from the Met Office, Ministry of Finance and other agencies. They submitted a report suggesting that the Government drop it.

“After Hurricane Matthew, the guys from the CCRIF commented on what would have happened if the Bahamas had kept it. That was taken with a grain of salt. It was almost impossible for us to have gotten anything.”

Informal sector’s 1/4 economy share may be ‘too conservative’ From pg B1 to ensure such companies pay their ‘fair share’ by coming into the ‘formal’ sector.

“It’s always been the Chamber’s position that we do not support activity in the informal sector,” Mr Sumner told Tribune Business. “It leads to an unlevel playing field, it leads to informality in how we operate businesses in this country.

“They’re not subject to the same rules as those in the formal sector, and may not be paying their fair share of taxes to contribute to infrastructure and the economy of the country. It will be more beneficial for the country to have those businesses operating legitimately in the formal sector.”

The Chamber, in a statement on the Bahamas’ avoiding a second ‘junk’ downgrade, said curtailing the ‘informal’ economy needed to be a key component in the Government’s drive to improve tax enforcement and compliance.

“Further resources should be invested in the area of tax enforcement and compliance to mitigate the opportunity and activities of tax fraud, further improve tax collections efforts and reduce the occurrences of activities in the informal economy,” the Chamber said.

“Once there is efficient enforcement of the rule of law, then there will also be greater revenue streams

EDISON SUMNER to the Government, which will lessen the pressure on Government to impose any new or increased taxes on the private sector business community.”

It praised the Minnis administration for continuing to “aggressively pursue outstanding tax collections”, while simultaneously seeking to rein in the debt and government spending.

“We believe that in very large measure the success of the Government’s tax collection strategy is due to the fact that the private sector businesses and employers have been collecting and remitting the taxes on behalf of the Government, which demonstrates that sound public-private partners are effective, and we encourage the Government to continue to engage the private sector to assist in improving the management of the fiscal affairs in the country,” the Chamber added.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, August 30, 2017, PAGE 5

HYUNDAI HALTS CHINA PRODUCTION AS MISSILE ROW CUTS SALES

By YOUKYUNG LEE Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, said Tuesday it has halted auto production at its plants in China as tensions between Seoul and Beijing over an U.S. anti-missile system hurt its sales and left it unable to pay a supplier.

All four of its factories that have been in operation in China had stopped manufacturing vehicles as of Tuesday after a local parts supplier refused to supply components when Hyundai delayed payment. The company did not provide more details of the payment issue. Production at assembly lines gradually stopped starting last week because of the lack of the components, a spokesman said.

Hyundai operates a joint venture, Beijing Hyundai Motor Co., with BAIC Motor Corp.

Hyundai’s sales in China plunged 64 percent during the April-June quarter from a year earlier and its quarterly profit fell to the lowest level since 2010. Chinese consumers shunned South Korean cars because they are angry over Seoul’s decision to deploy the U.S. missile defense system.

South Korea says the defense system is aimed at deterring North Korean aggression but China is worried that its powerful radars would peer into its territory.

During the first half of this year, the company sold 321,000 vehicles in China, down 42 percent from a year earlier.

New drug reduces heart attacks, but is that enough?

By LINDA A. JOHNSON Associated Press TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — So-so results for a new type of cholesterol drug have left Merck in a quandary: Does the company try to bring it to market or scrap it?

A large, long-term study of the drug showed that it prevents heart attacks and reduces the need for heart procedures, while three similar drugs developed by rivals failed.

But the drug, anacetrapib, only reduced those complications by 9 percent.

Now Merck, which has spent 13 years and likely hundreds of millions of dollars testing the drug, has to decide whether to spend even more to seek approval from regulators and convince people to buy it in a market full of cholesterol drugs.

The results of the 30,450-patient study were announced Tuesday at a conference of heart specialists in Barcelona, Spain and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study found that anacetrapib is safe and somewhat effective.

That kind of result is normally enough to seek approval to market a new medicine, especially for heart disease, which is the top killer in many developed countries. Yet even after seeing the results weeks ago, Merck says its executives are still consulting with medical experts and regulators on whether to go through

THE MERCK logo on a stained glass panel at a Merck company building in Kenilworth, N.J. A new type of cholesterol drug meant to prevent heart attacks and other complications clearly did so, in an unusually large study whose results were announced yesterday, at a conference of heart specialists. But the daily pill only reduced those complications by 9 percent, leaving drugmaker Merck with a tough call on whether to seek regulatory approval after spending 13 years and likely hundreds of millions of dollars on testing. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File) the costly process of applying for approval.

Analyst Steve Brozak, president of WBB Securities, predicts Merck will do so, given anacetrapib’s safety, the huge pool of potential patients and all the resources Merck has poured into the drug.

“This will get used,” Brozak said.

Merck would likely price the bill somewhere between the two extremes that now define the market for cholesterol drugs.

Generic versions of brand-name statin cholesterol pills including Lipitor, Crestor and Merck’s own Zocor now cost $10 to $20 a month.

Repatha and Praluent, two new

injected medicines in a different drug category that have been shown to dramatically reduce cholesterol, cost $14,000 a year.

Georgetown University cardiologist Dr. Allen J. Taylor said he thinks the drug would be approved by the Food and Drug Administration despite its “relatively weak benefit.”

“If you were discussing this with patients,” Taylor said, “you would have to tell them that when you start this, you’ll have to take it for four years to have a 1 percent chance of preventing an event,” meaning a heart attack or a procedure such as bypass surgery or implanting a stent to keep an artery open.

Taylor said it’s still unclear how anacetrapib controls cholesterol, which would make it hard for doctors to determine which patients would benefit much from it. But he and Brozak praised the company for doing such an exhaustive, expensive study in an era when many studies are quick and relatively small, sometimes producing unclear results.

In the study, patients getting anacetrapib plus a statin for four years had, on average, lower levels of bad cholesterol and other fats, and higher levels of good cholesterol, compared to a group getting a statin and a dummy pill. But Merck’s drug didn’t prevent any deaths from heart attacks or other cardiac problems.

BEST BUY UPS PROFIT AND SALES OUTLOOK ON STRONG 2Q RESULTS

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Best Buy raised its fullyear profit and revenue outlook on Tuesday as the nation’s largest consumer electronics chain delivered second-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates.

Shares rose slightly in Tuesday premarket trading.

The results offer more encouraging signs that Best Buy Co. has been able to fight off online leader Amazon.com as well as increasing competition from Walmart.

Skeptics had been prepared to write Best Buy’s obituary just a few years ago, predicting it to follow its now defunct former rival Circuit City as it battled the penchant of shoppers

to use the store as a browsing showroom and then buy online. Under its CEO Hubert Joly, who took the helm in 2012, the company has been cutting costs and improving stores and training. Best Buy is also working to forge deeper partnerships with its suppliers, and offering more online services.

Best Buy turned in a 5.4 percent increase in revenue at its U.S. stores opened at least a year for the fiscal second quarter. That beat Wall Street estimates for a 2.2 percent increase. And online sales soared 31.2 percent.

Best Buy said that comparable sales growth in computing, wearables, smart home, mobile phones and appliances was partially offset by declines in tablets.

NOTICE Pursuant to Chapter 363 The Securities Industry Act s98 APD LIMITED (“the Company”) APD Limited wishes to notify the public that on the 26th day of July, A.D. 2017 Mr. Harvey Tynes, Q.C. was nominated as Director of the Company.

The Chairman APD Limited Arawak Cay Nassau, The Bahamas

EDWARD Calixto walks out of a Best Buy store with his purchased LED TV, in Hialeah, Fla. Best Buy Co., Inc. reports earnings yesterday. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

For the period ended July 29, Best Buy earned $209 million, or 67 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 69 cents per share.

That was better than the 63 cents per share that analysts surveyed by Zacks

Investment Research were calling for.

Revenue for the Richfield, Minnesota-based company totaled $8.94 billion, topping the $8.66 billion that analysts polled

by Zacks predicted.

For the current quarter ending in November, Best

Buy expects earnings in a range of 75 cents to 80 cents per share. Analysts polled by FactSet anticipate earnings of 65 cents per share. Revenue is expected between $9.3 billion and $9.4 billion. Analysts surveyed by Zacks foresee revenue of $8.98 billion.

For the full year, the company now expects revenue growth of 4 percent, up from its original estimate of 2.5 percent. It also expects income growth of 4 percent to 9 percent, compared to its previous estimate for 3.5 percent to 8.5 percent growth.

In the Estate of CHARLES CATER GRANT late Cable Beach in the Western District of the Island of New Providence one of the Islands of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas, deceased.

NOTICE NOTICE is hereby given that all persons having any claim or demand against the said estate are required to send the same duly certified in writing to the undersigned on or before the 30th day of October, A.D. 2017, after which date the Executrix will proceed to distribute the estate having regard only to the claims of which she shall have had notice.

AND notice is hereby given that all persons indebted to the estate are required to make full settlement on or before the date hereinabove mentioned.

CEDRIC L. PARKER & CO. Attorneys for the Executor 9 Harcourt (Rusty) Bethel Drive Nassau, Bahamas

PAGE 6, Wednesday, August 30, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

MOST HARVEY FLOOD VICTIMS ON HOOK TO PAY FOR HOME REPAIRS

By BERNARD CONDON AND KEN SWEET Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Homeowners suffering flood damage from Harvey are more likely to be on the hook for losses than victims of prior storms — a potentially crushing blow to personal finances and neighborhoods along the Gulf Coast.

Insurance experts say only a small fraction of homeowners in Harvey’s path of destruction have flood insurance.

That means families with flooded basements, soaked furniture and water-damaged walls will have to dig deep into their pockets or take on more debt to fix up their homes. Some may be forced to sell, if they can, and leave their communities.

“All these people taken out in boats, they have a second problem: They have no insurance,” said Robert Hunter, director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America who used to run a federal flood insurance program.

Hunter estimates that total out-of-pocket costs

for flooded homeowners could reach $28 billion, the largest in U.S. history.

Harvey made landfall in Texas late Friday as a Category 4 hurricane and has lingered off the coast, dropping heavy rain as a tropical storm. Hunter expects flood damage alone from the storm to cost at least $35 billion, about what Katrina cost. But in that 2005 hurricane about half of flooded homes were covered by flood insurance.

With Harvey, only two of 10 homeowners have coverage, Hunter estimates.

Homeowners insurance typically covers just damage from winds, not floods. For that, you need separate coverage from the federally run National Flood Insurance Program. The insurance must be bought by homeowners with federally-backed mortgages living in the most vulnerable areas, called Special Flood Hazard Zones.

People in those areas and near them have complained for years that the premiums are too high, though they would be much higher still if not subsidized by the federal government.

PUBLIC NOTICE

A HOME is surrounded by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey on Monday, Aug. 28, 2017, in Spring, Texas.

Homeowners suffering from Harvey flood damage are more likely to be on the hook for losses than victims of prior storms, a potentially crushing blow to personal finances and neighborhoods along the Gulf Coast. Experts say far too few homeowners have flood insurance, just two of ten living in Harvey’s path of destruction.

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Much of the Houston area falls outside those most vulnerable zones and many homeowners who aren’t forced to have coverage have decided to do without. Now they are stuck because much of the damage in the nation’s fourth largest city won’t be covered by their homeowners insurance.

Unlike Corpus Christi and Rockport, much of the Houston area was damaged by flooding, not winds.

“There’s going to be a huge uninsured economic

loss here,” said Pete Mills, a senior vice president at the Mortgage Bankers Association.

About 1.2 million properties in the HoustonSugarland-Baytown area are at high/moderate risk of flooding but are not in a designated flood zone requiring insurance, research firm CoreLogic estimates. That’s roughly half of all properties — residential and commercial — in that area.

Hunter of the CFA said that homeowners without

INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL

Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 23rd day of August, 2017 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that JONAS CYRIL of Bahama Avenue, Second Street, New Providence, Bahamas

RS VIE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED

is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twentyeight days from the 30th day of August, 2017 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

N O T I C E IS HEREBY GIVEN as follows: a) RS VIE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED is in voluntary dissolution under the provisions of Section 138 (4) of the International Business Companies Act 2000. b) The dissolution of the said company commenced on the 17th August, 2017 when the Articles of Dissolution were submitted to and registered by the Registrar General.

MARKET REPORT TUESDAY, 29 AUGUST 2017

t. 242.323.2330 | f. 242.323.2320 | www.bisxbahamas.com

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX: CLOSE 1,833.68 | CHG -0.55 | %CHG -0.03 | YTD -104.53 | YTD% -5.39

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

900.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

PREFERENCE SHARES

1.00 106.00 100.00 106.00 105.00 103.00 100.00 10.00 1.01

1.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 105.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.01

Cable Bahamas Series 6 Cable Bahamas Series 8 Cable Bahamas Series 9 Cable Bahamas Series 10 Colina Holdings Class A Commonwealth Bank Class E Commonwealth Bank Class J Commonwealth Bank Class K Commonwealth Bank Class L Commonwealth Bank Class M Commonwealth Bank Class N Fidelity Bank Class A Focol Class B

CORPORATE DEBT - (percentage pricing) 52WK HI 100.00 100.00 100.00

52WK LOW 100.00 100.00 100.00

SYMBOL AML APD BPF BWL BOB BBL CAB CIB CHL CBL CBB CWCB DHS FAM FBB FIN FCL ICD JSJ PRE CAB6 CAB8 CAB9 CAB10 CHLA CBLE CBLJ CBLK CBLL CBLM CBLN FBBA FCLB

SECURITY Fidelity Bank Note 17 (Series A) + Fidelity Bank Note 18 (Series E) + Fidelity Bank Note 22 (Series B) +

SYMBOL FBB17 FBB18 FBB22

Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) BGS: 2014-12-3Y BGS: 2015-1-3Y BGS: 2014-12-5Y BGS: 2015-1-5Y BGS: 2014-12-7Y BGS: 2015-1-7Y BGS: 2014-12-30Y BGS: 2015-1-30Y BGS: 2015-6-3Y BGS: 2015-6-5Y BGS: 2015-6-7Y BGS: 2015-6-30Y BGS: 2015-10-3Y BGS: 2015-10-5Y BGS: 2015-10-7Y

BAH29 BG0103 BG0203 BG0105 BG0205 BG0107 BG0207 BG0130 BG0230 BG0303 BG0305 BG0307 BG0330 BG0403 BG0405 BG0407

BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing) 115.92 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

104.79 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

MUTUAL FUNDS 52WK HI 2.07 3.95 1.96 170.77 146.34 1.50 1.67 1.58 1.10 6.99 8.54 6.15 10.52 11.46 10.46

52WK LOW 1.67 3.04 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.44 1.63 1.55 1.04 6.41 7.62 5.66 8.65 10.54 9.57

LAST CLOSE 4.28 17.43 9.09 3.70 1.47 0.12 3.92 8.60 6.10 9.98 10.01 2.36 1.55 6.00 9.75 7.01 9.75 7.01 12.50 10.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 100.00 100.00 100.40 100.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.01 LAST SALE 100.00 100.00 100.00 108.34 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

CLOSE 4.28 17.43 9.09 3.70 1.39 0.13 3.92 8.60 6.10 9.98 10.01 2.33 1.55 6.00 9.75 7.01 9.75 7.01 12.50 10.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -0.08 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -0.03 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 100.00 100.00 100.40 100.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.01

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

CLOSE 100.00 100.00 100.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00

108.65 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

0.31 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

FUND CFAL Bond Fund CFAL Balanced Fund CFAL Money Market Fund CFAL Global Bond Fund CFAL Global Equity Fund FG Financial Preferred Income Fund FG Financial Growth Fund FG Financial Diversified Fund FG Financial Global USD Bond Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Secured Balanced Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Targeted Equity Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Prime Income Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Equities Sub Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - High Yield Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Alternative Strategies Fund

VOLUME 11,500

2,000 2,700

66,000

VOLUME

NAV 2.07 3.95 1.96 174.30 146.25 1.50 1.63 1.58 1.08 6.92 8.03 6.15 10.52 11.46 10.01

EPS$ 0.467 0.932 -0.230 0.540 -0.340 0.000 -0.857 0.574 0.681 0.540 0.559 0.102 0.455 1.212 0.768 0.575 0.929 -0.602 0.697 0.000

DIV$ 0.080 1.000 0.000 0.210 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.300 0.220 0.360 0.570 0.060 0.060 0.290 0.450 0.000 0.340 0.140 0.620 0.000

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

P/E 9.2 18.7 N/M 6.9 N/M N/M -4.6 15.0 9.0 18.5 17.9 22.8 3.4 5.0 12.7 12.2 10.5 -11.6 17.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

6.95% 4.00% 4.00% 4.25% 4.25% 4.50% 4.50% 6.25% 6.25% 4.00% 4.25% 4.50% 6.25% 3.50% 3.88% 4.25%

20-Nov-2029 15-Dec-2017 30-Jul-2018 16-Dec-2019 30-Jul-2020 15-Dec-2021 30-Jul-2022 15-Dec-2044 30-Jul-2045 26-Jun-2018 26-Jun-2020 26-Jun-2022 26-Jun-2045 15-Oct-2018 15-Oct-2020 15-Oct-2022 NAV Date 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2017 31-May-2017 30-May-2017 30-May-2017 30-May-2017 30-May-2017 30-May-2017

YIELD - last 12 month dividends divided by closing price Bid $ - Buying price of Colina and Fidelity Ask $ - Selling price of Colina and fidelity Last Price - Last traded over-the-counter price Weekly Vol. - Trading volume of the prior week EPS $ - A company's reported earnings per share for the last 12 mths NAV - Net Asset Value N/M - Not Meaningful

_________________________________ Mehmet Rasim Sengir Liquidator

0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 6.25% 7.00% 6.50%

MATURITY 19-Oct-2017 31-May-2018 19-Oct-2022

MARKET TERMS BISX ALL SHARE INDEX - 19 Dec 02 = 1,000.00 52wk-Hi - Highest closing price in last 52 weeks 52wk-Low - Lowest closing price in last 52 weeks Previous Close - Previous day's weighted price for daily volume Today's Close - Current day's weighted price for daily volume Change - Change in closing price from day to day Daily Vol. - Number of total shares traded today DIV $ - Dividends per share paid in the last 12 months P/E - Closing price divided by the last 12 month earnings

YIELD 1.87% 5.74% 0.00% 5.68% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 3.49% 3.61% 3.61% 5.69% 2.58% 3.87% 4.83% 4.62% 0.00% 3.49% 2.00% 4.96% 0.00%

INTEREST 7.00% 6.00% Prime + 1.75%

YTD% 12 MTH% 2.34% 4.55% 0.90% 1.64% 1.21% 2.55% 3.48% 4.01% 3.17% 7.00% 2.15% 4.22% -1.93% -1.89% 0.81% 2.21% 2.28% 1.30% -1.08% 1.77% -5.96% -3.05% 1.90% 4.59% 7.24% 11.96% 2.77% 3.88% 3.94% 4.69%

c) The Liquidator of the said company is Mehmet Rasim Sengir of Unit 2301, Jewelry and Gemplex 3, Dubai, UAE. Dated this 30th day of August, A. D. 2017

BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES SECURITY AML Foods Limited APD Limited Bahamas Property Fund Bahamas Waste Bank of Bahamas Benchmark Cable Bahamas CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank Colina Holdings Commonwealth Bank Commonwealth Brewery Consolidated Water BDRs Doctor's Hospital Famguard Fidelity Bank Finco Focol ICD Utilities J. S. Johnson Premier Real Estate

NOTICE

#26 College Garden Drive, P.O Box N-459, Nassau, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for

NOTICE

52WK LOW 4.05 17.43 8.19 3.50 1.39 0.12 3.80 8.40 5.83 9.46 10.00 2.18 1.50 5.80 8.75 7.01 8.10 6.60 11.93 10.00

wind blows out a window or sends a roof aloft first, allowing the water in. If the water rushes through the floorboard or walls, you’re not covered.

Harvey has dumped more than 30 inches of rain in some places, and rivers are swelling and expected to crest at record levels.

The Cypress River, which runs through downtown Houston, is expected to rise four feet higher than the record 94.3 feet set in 1949, according to Air Worldwide, a risk modeling firm.

NOTICE is hereby given that ERIC TREVOR MOORE of

The public is hereby advised that I, IDELL BROWN of #1417 Chestnut Street off Pinewood Gardens, New Providence, Bahamas intend to change my name to ESTHERMAE IDELL BROWN JOHNSON. If there are any objections to the change of name by deed poll, you may write such objections to the Chief Passport Officer, P.O. Box N-742, Nassau, Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of the publication of this notice.

52WK HI 4.38 19.17 9.09 3.70 2.41 0.13 6.47 8.60 6.30 10.60 14.49 2.52 1.60 6.00 10.00 11.00 10.10 7.25 12.51 11.00

flood insurance can possibly apply for federal disaster relief benefits, but those come in the form of low interest loans, a burden for those already struggling with too much debt.

“If you have $30,000 in damages, you can get maybe $25,000,” Hunter said. “But there will be interest, and then you have your mortgage. You’ll have two loans on your house.”

Homeowners with water damage can get paid through their homeowners insurance but only if

NOTICE

CASCADIA INVESTMENTS LIMITED NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN as follows: (a) CASCADIA INVESTMENTS LIMITED is in dissolution under the provisions of the International Business Companies Act 2000. (b) The dissolution of the said Company commenced on the 18th day of August, 2017 when its Articles of Dissolution were submitted to and registered by the Registrar General. (c) The Liquidator of the said Company is Mr. Delano Aranha of Ocean Centre, Montagu Foreshore, East Bay Street, P.O. Box N-3247, Nassau, Bahamas H & J CORPORATE SERVICES LTD.

TO TRADE CALL: CFAL 242-502-7010 | ROYALFIDELITY 242-356-7764 | FG CAPITAL MARKETS 242-396-4000 | COLONIAL 242-502-7525 | LENO 242-396-3225

Registered Agent for the above-named Company

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, August 30, 2017, PAGE 7

TECH AND INDUSTRIAL COMPANIES LEAD STOCKS BACK FROM LOSSES

By MARLEY JAY Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — North Korea’s latest missile launch jolted the U.S. stock market Tuesday, but major indexes pulled back from those early losses and mostly finished higher as the weakening dollar gave technology and industrial companies a boost.

Investors bought bonds, which are traditionally considered safe assets, after North Korea fired a midrange ballistic missile that crossed over northern Japan and fell into the Pacific Ocean. It’s believed to be the first time the country has sent a missile over Japan, and it seemed designed to show that North Korea can back up a threat to target the U.S. territory of Guam. Energy and insurance companies continued to feel the

effects of Tropical Storm Harvey, which is dumping record amounts of rain on the Gulf Coast. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 134 points when the market opened.

“It was a double whammy for investors,” said Karyn Cavanaugh, senior market strategist at Voya Investment Strategies. But she said investors are unlikely to sell and remain on the sidelines because much of the global economy is growing in sync. That will help company results.

“Buying on the dips is going to continue as long as earnings continue to move forward because investors know the market is going to continue to follow those earnings,” she said.

And investors’ fears eased as the day went on.

As the dollar declined to two-and-a-half-year lows, companies that do a lot of

business outside the U.S. climbed. A weaker dollar boosts their sales and helps their profits when they are converted back into dollars.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 2.06 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,446.30.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 56.97 points, or 0.3 percent, 21,865.37. The Nasdaq composite added 18.87 points, or 0.3 percent, to 6,301.89.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 1.45 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,383.68. Still, most of the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange fell.

The dollar has weakened in part because a lot of economies in other regions are getting stronger, which boosts their currencies. The dollar is down almost 10 percent in 2017, at its lowest point in more than a year

THE FLAG of Texas flies outside the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. The exchange has committed more than $1 million for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. U.S. stocks are following other global market indexes lower Tuesday after investors were shaken up

by North Korea’s launch of a midrange ballistic missile that crossed over northern Japan and fell into the Pacific Ocean.

(AP Photo Peter Morgan)

and the euro is at two-year highs.

Defense contractors climbed. Raytheon advanced $3.87, or 2.2 percent, to $182.11. United Technologies and Rockwell Collins rose after the Wall Street Journal reported that the companies are close to a deal. United Technologies,

which makes jet engines, elevators and other products, jumped $3.37, or 2.9 percent, to $118.70 and aviation electronics maker Rockwell Collins rose $2.75, or 2.1 percent, to $130.74.

The dollar rose to 109.71 yen from 109.09 while the

euro rose to $1.1992 from $1.1979.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.12 percent from 2.16 percent. Lower bond yields translate to lower interest rates, and banks fell as investors expected them to make less money from lending.

Tribes say Dakota Access pipeline overstates shutdown impact

By BLAKE NICHOLSON Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — American Indian tribes hoping to persuade a federal judge to turn off the Dakota Access oil pipeline maintain in lastminute court filings that the project’s developer has overstated the potential impacts of a shutdown.

Standing Rock Sioux attorney Jan Hasselman and Cheyenne River Sioux attorney Nicole Ducheneaux also argue that Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners brought potential problems on itself by forging ahead with construction despite the uncertainty of final federal approval.

ETP “made reckless choices, and it must accept the consequences,” the

attorneys wrote in documents filed Monday, the deadline for arguments imposed by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C. The $3.8 billion pipeline began moving North Dakota oil through South Dakota and Iowa to Illinois on June 1, after President Donald Trump pushed for its completion. The Army Corps of Engineers, which permitted the project, had decided to do more environmental study, but dropped that plan after Trump took office.

The judge ruled in June that the Corps didn’t adequately consider how an oil spill under Lake Oahe in the Dakotas might affect the Standing Rock Sioux, one of four tribes that have challenged the pipeline in court. He ordered the Corps to reconsider certain

areas of its environmental analysis, and could decide to shut down the 1,200-mile pipeline while this work is done over the next several months.

ETP has maintained in court documents that a shutdown would cost it $90 million monthly, and significantly disrupt the broader energy industry as well as state and local government tax revenue.

“There is no legitimate basis for arguing that suspending DAPL will cause havoc,” Hasselman and Ducheneaux wrote.

“Suspension of DAPL undoubtedly will have some impacts, but they will be more modest and manageable than DAPL contends.”

Company spokeswoman Vicki Granado on Monday declined comment, citing the ongoing litigation.

TABOO, center, and Native American musicians raise their fists in protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline as they arrive at the MTV Video Music Awards at The Forum on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, in Inglewood, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

PAGE 8, Wednesday, August 30, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

US SANCTIONS TO PILE MISERY ON MORIBUND VENEZUELAN ECONOMY

By JOSHUA GOODMAN Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A small army of red-shirted workers mop the linoleum floors as their supervisors, sitting under a giant portrait of Hugo Chavez, look on. By the meltdown standards of Venezuela’s economy, the shelves around the workers at the state-run Bicentenario supermarket in eastern Caracas are brimming with staples like rice and pasta.

What’s missing are the shoppers: They’ve been scared off by prices that double every few weeks while wages in the crisiswracked nation remain stagnant.

“I don’t even look at my paycheck anymore because it just gets me depressed,” said Norma Pena, a bank teller who earns a little more than Venezuela’s minimum wage of around just $15 a month. She left the store with a single bag of black beans.

While President Nicolas Maduro celebrates having calmed Venezuela’s streets after months of deadly protests, the country’s imploding economy poses an ever more severe threat.

And the misery is likely to get even worse due to financial sanctions imposed by the Trump administration in efforts to isolate Maduro for taking the country down an increasingly authoritarian path.

Even before the sanctions were announced, most Venezuelans were struggling like never before.

Since 2014, the year after Maduro took office, the economy has shrunk 35

percent — more than the U.S. did during the Great Depression.

A bevy of foreign airlines have pulled out of the country this year, oil production is at the lowest level in more than two decades and the government had to add three zeros to its bills as the value of its currency — the “strong bolivar” — plummeted.

But while daylong bread lines have eased, the newest scourge is the way galloping inflation has reached even the basic staples whose prices were long controlled by rigid price and currency restrictions.

In recent months authorities have started allowing companies to import everything from canned food to new cars and letting them pass the dollar prices on to consumers at the black market exchange rate, where the greenback is worth 1,685 times more bolivars than it as at the strongest of three official exchange rates. In the past, merchants risked having goods seized, or their businesses shut down, if bolivar prices reflected the world market prices.

The result of the de-facto dollarization has been a devil’s bargain: Shelves are fuller than Venezuela has seen for months, but with prices that are out of reach for the vast majority of poor Venezuelans.

Inflation, which has been running in the triple digits for more than two years, hit a record last month and has risen to 650 percent over the past 12 months, according to an estimate by New York-based Torino Capital.

Venezuelans have made a grim joke of the process.

The government once boasted of guaranteeing a “precio justo” — or “just price” — for goods. Buyers report there is now more on offer but only at a “precio susto” — a “scary price.”

That’s not to say shortages have gone away. The Bicentenario supermarket hasn’t seen any fish or meat in about a year, partly because the freezer section’s cooling system broke and no spare parts can be found. Most shelves contain a single variety of any given product, much of it imported from China. Private supermarkets aren’t much better stocked.

Pena says she scrapes by selling items — telephones, clothes, once even a washing machine — left behind by better-off clients who have abandoned Venezuela.

If she and her husband didn’t already own their home, they wouldn’t have enough to feed their two daughters, she said. Even so, she’s lost 6 kilograms (13 pounds) as a result of what’s come to be known as the “Maduro diet.” In the past year, 74 percent of the population has lost weight because of food scarcity, according to a recent study by three of Caracas’ largest universities.

At the normally bustling outdoor Chacao market, poultry vendor Juan Dulcey said his middle-class clientele fell by half over the past month because he has had to double prices to make up for skyrocketing costs. A kilogram of boneless breasts costs around 27,300 bolivars per kilogram — about 10 percent of the current monthly minimum wage.

A STREET vendor sells avocados in Caracas, Venezuela. Shoppers have been scared off by prices that double every few weeks as wages in the crisis-wracked nation remain stagnant. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been celebrating calm returning to the streets after months of deadly protests, yet the country’s imploding economy poses an ever more severe threat. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Apple CEO Tim Cook reaps $89.6M windfall from long-term deal SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple CEO Tim Cook has collected $89.6 million as part of a lucrative 10-year deal that he signed as an incentive to keep the iPhone maker at the forefront of the technology industry after he took over the reins in 2011 from company co-founder Steve Jobs.

The windfall detailed in a Monday regulatory flowed from 560,000 Apple shares sold during the past week.

Cook received half the award because Apple’s stock delivered shareholder returns in the top third of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index during the past three years. He got the other 280,000 shares for simply staying on the job.

Apple set aside more than 291,000 shares sold for $46.4 million to cover Cook’s tax bill.

The stock package awarded to Cook in 2011 was originally valued at $376 million.