NASSAU, Bahamas, May 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BMD Holdings Ltd., the developer of Baha Mar, today reported it has sent the following letter to China Exim Bank and Deloitte, the bank's receiver for Baha Mar, asserting it would keep its offer for Baha Mar open for now but will not participate in Deloitte's sale process. The BMD offer would enable Baha Mar to be opened as soon as possible; payment to be made to unsecured creditors; and China Exim Bank to not have to incur a discount.
The full text of the letter follows:
May 9, 2016
BY E-MAIL
Messrs. Raymond Winder, Deloitte & Touche, Bahamas
Darach Haughey, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Hong Kong
Lai Kar Yan, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Hong Kong
Joint Receiver-Managers of Baha Mar Ltd. et al.
West Bay Street
P. O. Box CB-10988
Nassau, The Bahamas
Re:Baha Mar Ltd. (In receivership and In Provisional Liquidation)
Dear Sirs,
BMD Holdings Ltd. ("BMD") has determined that it makes no sense for it or its affiliates to enter the second party Deloitte sales process because there is no clarity how any bids made under that process would be evaluated. Furthermore, there is no certainty that, even if there are actual bids in that process, a buyer will be chosen which is in the best interests of The Bahamas and the future of Baha Mar.
BMD, however, will continue for now to keep open its offer made directly to China Exim Bank under which Baha Mar would be opened as soon as possible, payment would be made to unsecured creditors, and no discount would be incurred by the bank.
We have been quite clear to China Exim Bank, The Bahamian Government and the people of The Bahamas of our willingness and commitment to undertake a transaction that can be economically attractive to all parties and which can jumpstart Baha Mar to successful completion. Baha Mar is our vision, and every initiative and action we have undertaken has had the singular purpose of making Baha Mar a reality for the Bahamas. We understand that along the way, different parties have disagreed with how we have proceeded at points, but no party can question our desire to make Baha Mar a success and our priority for the wellbeing of The Bahamas. We do not know if the same can be said for the process the Receivers are undertaking or, for that matter, for the parties who may participate in it.
The process we are undertaking, which is our direct proposal to China Exim Bank, is completely transparent to the people of The Bahamas. This is in sharp contrast to the tight-lipped opaque process engineered by Deloitte at the behest of China Exim Bank. Our relationship and expertise with respect to Baha Mar, and our knowledge of The Bahamas are second to none. We have trained thousands of Bahamians to work at Baha Mar, and we are committed to returning to Baha Mar its engine - which is its Bahamian workforce. These skills, now learned, should not be put to waste. We have no interest in colonizing Baha Mar revenues for use in other foreign domains. We live here and are part of The Bahamian community.
China Exim Bank is able to work directly with us to make our attractive solution for Baha Mar an immediate reality and it is of great misfortune to the project and its people that the bank so far has chosen not to even respond to us about our proposal made four months ago. We have contacted the Receivers on several occasions affirming that we are ready, willing and able to sit down with it and China Exim Bank to work out the details of our offer so that Baha Mar can move forward. Instead the Receivers engage us in the proverbial "rope a dope", including saying it is willing to sit down, but not to discuss our offer, but only their process- a surreptitious process which Deloitte knows well could impair our legal rights and cause our offer to be denied proper consideration.
We are not willing to risk being used as a stalking horse. Indeed the Receivers have already been quoted in the media asserting that any party which can equal our offer will be in a favorable position. That may be their agenda but it is not ours. We have made our proposal to China Exim Bank. We are prepared to proceed with it if the bank is. China Exim Bank and we do not need to wait until the end of the year for our offer to be fulfilled. With that said, we want to make very clear to all parties that our willingness to proceed with our offer also has its limits. We will not be, as we have said on other occasions, "one hand clapping." Time is of the essence for both our offer and for Baha Mar.
Very truly yours,
Sarkis D. Izmirlian
| cc: |
Alastair Beveridge, AlixPartners Services UK |
| Nicholas Cropper, AlixPartners Services UK |
|
| Edmund Rahming |
Media Contacts
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bahamar@kekst.com
