Bahamas

Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie plans to take control of an unfinished $3.5 billion mega resort, currently tied up in a corporate bankruptcy process, and push it through to completion to help bolster his country's fragile economy, Reuters reported. Christie, in a speech Thursday night, called for liquidators to take control of the Baha Mar resort and casino project. A fully operational resort would employ about 5,000 people and boost the Bahamas' gross domestic product by more than 10 percent.

The troubled $3.5 billion Baha Mar resort project in the Bahamas is preparing to wind down operations and cut more than 2,000 jobs if the developer fails to strike a deal quickly with its main lender, China's Export Import Bank, according to U.S. bankruptcy court filings, Reuters reported. The sprawling Baha Mar resort, developed by Sarkis Izmirlian, the son of an Armenian billionaire, had ramped up hiring earlier this year in anticipation of a March opening.

The developer of the unfinished $3.5 billion Baha Mar mega resort in the Bahamas has accused China Construction America of cutting power to the work site, inflating expenses and trying to steal documents stuffed in suitcases, U.S. court filings show. China Construction America, a unit of China State Construction Engineering Corp Ltd, denied the allegations, saying in a statement on Friday the developer is trying to deflect attention from its own mismanagement of the troubled project.

The Chinese construction company building the unfinished $3.5 billion Baha Mar resort in the Bahamas on Tuesday accused the developer of mismanaging the project's design and not securing adequate financing, Reuters reported. China Construction America (CCA) has been blamed for the delays that caused the Baha Mar project to file for bankruptcy protection late last month in a Delaware court. But CCA said the developer of the project replaced the mega resort's principal architect after construction began and had more than 1,300 change orders for construction contractors.

The bankrupt $3.5 billion Baha Mar mega resort in the Bahamas secured up to $30 billion in interim financing on Wednesday, but it was unclear when construction on the stalled project would resume, Reuters reported. The resort, bankrolled and built by the Chinese and described on its website as "the world's glamourous, new playground, is eight to 12 weeks from completion once construction resumes, a lawyer for the resort told a bankruptcy judge. U.S.

China's push to extend its influence in the Western Hemisphere has hit an embarrassing setback at an unfinished, $3.5 billion resort and casino project in the Bahamas, Reuters reported. A series of construction delays, funding squabbles, lagging inspections and faulty work at the Baha Mar resort in Nassau have led to contention and finger-pointing in recent months among the local developer, a Chinese state-backed contractor and China's export finance bank.

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.