Bahamas

The receiver for an Abaco-based resort/marina development, recently appraised at $50 million, yesterday said he was “at the beginning of a long road” in trying to recover debts owed to a $27 billion US bank and other creditors, Tribune 242 reported. Paul ‘Andy’ Gomez, managing partner of Grant Thornton (Bahamas), told Tribune Business he was ultimately looking at selling the 203-acre Orchid Bay Marina and Resort, located on Great Guana Cay, to a new owner.

Three bond restructurings totaling about $9.7 billion in the Caribbean this year are failing to ignite economic growth and may not help the region avoid more defaults, according to Moody’s Investors Service, Bloomberg reported. The bond swaps this year didn’t go far enough to fixing the Caribbean’s “unsustainable” mix of debt and deficits, Warren Smith, the president of the Caribbean Development Bank, said May 22.

An exclusive resort in the Turks and Caicos Islands that catered to celebrities and offered personal butlers and a pillow menu has closed after less than two years of operation, The Associated Press reported. The owner of Nikki Beach Resort & Spa — Leeward Resort Ltd. — has been placed into receivership, General Manager Jonathan Steers said. The resort, which the Travel Channel rated No. 2 on its list of the "21 Hottest Caribbean Escapes" this year, is the latest one in the region to close amid the global economic crisis.

The court-appointed liquidator for Clico Bahamas Ltd., a Bahamian life and health insurance company owned by one of the largest financial conglomerates in the Caribbean, has filed a Chapter 15 bankruptcy petition seeking permission to investigate the company's U.S. assets, including at least $70 million Clico invested in several South Florida real estate developments, Bankruptcy Law360 reported.