12242024 BUSINESS by tribune242

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24,

Resorts World Bimini sale bid behind minority owner’s back

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor

RESORTS World

Bimini’s minority owner is alleging its Malaysian partner sought to sell the hotel behind its back after realising it could no longer “conceal” the improper dumping of multimillion liabilities on its books.

Gerardo Capo’s RAV Bahamas investment

vehicle, which holds a 22 percent equity ownership interest in Bimini’s ‘anchor’ resort, claimed Genting Americas had quietly approached realtors in early 2024 in a bid to ofﬂoad the loss-making property that had purportedly accumulated a $693.665m solvency deﬁciency by year-end 2022.

The allegation, contained in documents ﬁled with the south Florida federal court on Friday, is part of RAV Bahamas efforts to defeat

an attempt by Resorts World’s 78 percent majority shareholder to have its $600m damages lawsuit dismissed before it even gets to trial.

Genting Americas, part of the multi-billion dollar Malaysian conglomerate with the same name, argued in December 17, 20204, legal ﬁlings of its own that the increasingly bitter shareholder dispute “must be either arbitrated or litigated in the courts of

The Bahamas” rather than in south Florida. And it has advanced multiple legal grounds for the latter to dismiss RAV Bahamas’ action.

But Mr Capo’s investment vehicle, while alleging that it is unable to assess Resorts World Bimini’s current ﬁnancial performance, reiterated its position that it has been “at every turn, deliberately kneecapped” from ﬁnding out about the property’s true status because Genting and its

Sarkis blasts CCA as ‘fraudulently managed’

By NEIL HARTNELL

Editor

SARKIS Izmirlian yes-

terday blasted Baha Mar’s contractor as “a company fraudulently managed by bad actors” while slamming the bankruptcy protection ﬁling by its US arm as a bid to “evade responsibility for its actions”.

The Cable Beach mega resort’s original developer, in a statement responding to CCA Construction Inc’s Chapter 11 move, accused the Chinese state-owned contractor of “hiding” behind US bankruptcy protection law to avoid having to pay him $1.642bn in damages and post a $1.9bn bond to pursue overturning that award via the New York State Supreme Court’s appeals division.

Reiterating that he secured a near-total win in his original fraud and breach of contract claim, the Lyford Cay resident

voiced optimism that both himself and his BML Properties vehicle will prevail in their legal battles with CCA Construction Inc and its Bahamian afﬁliates before both the New York Supreme and now-New Jersey federal bankruptcy

courts.

Attacking the Chinese contractor’s stealth Sunday move to ﬁle for Chapter 11 protection for its US arm, Mr Izmirlian blasted: “This is just another example of CCA, and its multi-billion

TOURISM

By NEIL HARTNELL

A $1M INVESTMENT

in a pioneering Grand Bahama project’s tourism attractions will drive increased revenues to ﬁnance planting more than 20,000 coral fragments annually to rescue the island’s reefs. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), detailing an initiative to both enhance Coral Vita’s ﬁnancial sustainability and revive fragile ecosystems upon which much sea life depends, said the company’s restoration activities are much-needed given that an estimated 80 percent of Bahamian coral reefs are dying. With Coral Vita already charging a $20 entrance fee for a one-hour tour of

dollar parent company China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), attempting to evade responsibility for its actions by hiding behind a Chapter 11 proceeding.

subsidiary entities have denied it access to the necessary information.

Urging the south Florida court to permit its lawsuit to proceed, RAV Bahamas asserted: “RAV alleges extensive facts supporting fraudulent concealment, including Genting Americas’ deliberate efforts to cloak its ﬁnancial shenanigans to mislead RAV as well as its active concealment to prevent RAV’s inquiries and elude its

‘BEST

investigative efforts.”

The Resorts World minority shareholder, claiming that it was barred from inspecting the ﬁnancial record of BB Entertainment, the hotel’s immediate holding company, or having them independently audited, alleged: “Genting Americas would withhold the audited ﬁnancial statements for years at a time.

INTEREST’ OF ALL TO PROTECT HOTELS FROM SARKIS-CCA FIGHT

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business

TWO downtown Nassau resorts will not suffer from their owner’s multi-billion dollar legal battle with Sarkis Izmirlian as it is in the “best interests” of all parties that they perform, the FNM’s chairman asserted yesterday.

Dr Duane Sands told Tribune Business that the British Colonial and Margaritaville Beach Resort are “considerably more valuable” to both China Construction America (CCA) and Baha Mar’s original developer if they remain open with staff fully employed regardless of who ends up owning them following the outcome of their legal tussle. While acknowledging

that the two resorts’ fate may occasionally be used as “leverage” in this ﬁght, he added that it was simply good “business sense” for each party not to undermine their ﬁnancial and operational viability while the courtroom battle plays out in the US.

Given such logic, Dr Sands told this newspaper that Bahamians - including the staff at both the British Colonial and Margaritaville Beach Resort - can “sit back with our pop corn and watch it all play out” while praising Mr Izmirlian’s ability “to play the long game” in the battle for damages over his ouster from the Baha Mar mega resort project.

Speaking after CCA’s US arm ﬁled for Chapter 11

its facilities, and Grand Bahama set to experience an extra two million-plus cruise visitors annually when Carnival’s Celebration Key private cruise port opens next year, the multilateral lender explained the capital injection is critical for it to fully exploit this new revenue source.

“Coral reefs are dying globally - around 80 percent mortality in The Bahamas - threatening valuable ecosystem services, and traditional reef restoration methods don’t scale ecologically or economically,” the IDB warned in a project summary.

“Coral Vita utilises a commercial reef restoration platform to grow diverse and resilient coral in landbased farms while funding scalable impact through a for-proﬁt business model.

In addition to selling restoration as a service (RaaS) to reef-dependent customers and licensing in-house technologies, the company generates revenue by turning their coral farms in eco-tourism attractions.

“Increasing revenue from tourism experiences is essential for the longterm viability of Coral Vita’s Bahamas’ operations and the company’s ability to continue restoring local reefs over the years ahead. Coral Vita coral farm typically charges a $20 entrance fee for a standard one-hour tour. It is already highlighted as a leading destination by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, local tour operators, hotels and cruise lines,’ the IDB added.

By NEIL HARTNELL

DELAYS to the probe into the legality of Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) 2022-2023 fuel tariff hikes, which soared by 163 percent in just eight months, “raise suspicions and concerns”, it was argued yesterday. Branville McCartney, the former Democratic National Alliance (DNA) leader, told Tribune Business that Bahamian citizens, households and businesses have “a right to know” why the fuel charge portion of

Resorts World Bimini sale bid behind minority owner’s back

“And it would regularly misrepresent the losses and expenses that BB Entertainment was incurring.

This pattern continued and, as of March 12, 2024, Genting Americas had still not provided any of the information concerning BB Entertainment’s debt breakdown” despite purported promises that such details would soon be disclosed.

“Genting Americas some time in early 2024 - perhaps sensing that its efforts to conceal and keep RAV in the dark were reaching their expiration date - approached realtors to explore selling the entire resort, at which point RAV realised that Genting Americas’ would simply never address or rectify the massive misallocations of debt and expenses that RAV had been trying to investigate,” Mr Capo and RAV Bahamas claimed.

“Year after year Genting Americas, among other things, saddled BB Entertainment with improper debt to RAV’s detriment and, to this very day, continues to add to that debt and charge interest on that illegitimate debt, including a total of $134.216m in interest since 2020 and a total of approximately $254.028m in interest (and counting) since 2013.

“Genting Americas’ tortious conduct has, among other things, rapaciously continued into early 2024 when Genting Americas unilaterally explored selling the resort to bury its conduct.” However, in vehemently denying these and all previous allegations, Genting Americas and its parent have accused their minority partner of trying “to extract an

exorbitant payment” by mounting their $600m damages claim. It also accused RAV Bahamas, the vehicle owned by Miami-based Mr Capo and his family, of seeking to “inﬂict severe reputational damage” on the publicly-listed resort, gaming and leisure group through a series of “baseless” allegations.

Genting Americas has cited numerous legal grounds as warranting the lawsuit’s dismissal in favour or arbitration in The Bahamas. In particular, it is arguing that it is the wrong party to be named as the defendant, instead asserting that BB Investment Holdings (BBIH), the vehicle which holds its 78 percent majority stake in Resorts World Bimini, is the correct entity.

There are also assertions that the claim is timebarred under Florida’s statute of limitations, and that it fails to rise to the standard or level necessary to plead fraud. However, RAV Bahamas countered in its Friday legal ﬁlings:

RESORTS

“Genting Americas moves to dismiss a complaint, but it’s not the complaint that RAV actually ﬁled.

“A deliberate, Sisyphean effort to push the complaint’s allegations aside in service of an alternate narrative animates virtually all of Genting Americas’ arguments..... When you ignore what’s there, it’s a lot easier to argue the absence of it. That aptly describes Genting Americas’ argument that RAV has not pled the fraud with particularity.

“First, RAV sufficiently alleged that Genting Americas made ‘false statements’ and ‘misrepresentations’. Every audited financial statement, which RAV alleges was prepared using financial records that Genting Americas prepared, constitutes a separate false statement,” the original Bimini Bay developer added.

“Similarly, RAV’s allegations point to speciﬁc line items in those audited ﬁnancial statements which are false, including but not limited to, the $795m for ‘construction costs’; BB

WORLD BIMINI

Entertainment’s $150m loan payable to Bimini Superfast Operations; overcharging BB Entertainment a disproportionate share of Genting Americas’ ofﬁcers and employees’ salaries; and falsely stating that the audited ﬁnancials were ‘approved’ by BB Entertainment’s Board.

“And Genting Americas’ ofﬁcers repeated and falsely misrepresented that they were addressing the runaway cost...... Genting Americas’ own president conﬁrmed the abuse and unconscionable advantage of its relationship when he admitted to $150m of illegitimate debt and overcharging BB Entertainment for its employees’ salaries.”

RAV Bahamas is essentially accusing Genting of using its 78 percent majority ownership, plus Board and management control, to conceal how it funnelled hundreds of millions of dollars in liabilities incurred elsewhere in its global empire on to the Bimini resort’s books.

Complaining that this

has undermined the value of its investment, while also “depriving” it of expected profits, the minority owner is alleging that its partner has turned Resorts World Bimini into a “financial wasteland” via a near-billion dollar liability “dump” that represents “a massive and co-ordinated fraud”.

The ﬁnancial statements for BB Entertainment, the Bahamian-incorporated holding company for Resorts World Bimini, reveal that the project has consistently incurred annual losses amounting to tens of millions of dollars ever since RAV Bahamas teamed with Genting some 12 years ago in 2012.

BB Entertainment’s 2022 audited ﬁnancials saw the EY (Ernst & Young) accounting ﬁrm qualify the report by noting a “material uncertainty related to going concern”. It wrote:

“We draw attention to note two in the ﬁnancial statements, which indicates that the company incurred a net loss of $151.284m during

the year ended December 31, 2022.

“As of that date, the company’s current liabilities exceeded its current assets by $70.546m and had a net equity deficit of $693.665m. As stated in note two, these events or conditions, along with other matters as set forth in note two indicate that a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Our opinion is not modified in respect of this matter.”

That year’s $151.284m loss followed $114.22m worth of ‘red ink’ that Resorts World Bimini incurred in 2021, which both exceeded the $105.581m loss generated in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its height and the $69.624m hit sustained in 2019.

BB Entertainment’s ﬁnancials showed that, at year-end 2022, the company was effectively insolvent with some $191.511m in assets dwarfed by $885.176m in total liabilities to produce the $693.665m solvency deﬁciency. Of the $191.511m in total assets, the majority - $165.254m - represented the value of Resorts World Bimini’s real estate, with its holding entity possessing just under $3m in cash and equivalents.

The majority of BB Entertainment’s liabilities, some $795.452m, was described in the ﬁnancials as “borrowings” from BB Investment Holdings, the entity through which Genting holds its 78 percent majority stake in the project. Some $578.848m of this sum was said to be “interest bearing” at a rate of Bahamian Prime plus 5 percent, which would be 9.25 percent.

SARKIS BLASTS CCA AS ‘FRAUDULENTLY MANAGED’

“I am conﬁdent that both the bankruptcy judge and the New York appellate court will see CCA for what it is: A company fraudulently managed by bad actors. We will take every step necessary to enforce our rights against CCA and all those who orchestrated CCA’s frauds, including its parent, CSCEC.”

Baha Mar’s original developer reiterated that New York State Supreme Court judge, Andrew Borrok, in a 74-page verdict awarded him and his family the full value of their original $845m equity investment in the mega resort project plus more than a decade’s worth of pre-judgment interest after ﬁnding CCA and its afﬁliates perpetrated “an absolute sham and shakedown” by providing “phony” completion dates

Unveiling his ﬁndings just over two months after a 14-day trial, the judge found that Mr Izmirlian’s fraud claim against CCA was “established beyond doubt” as the contractor “knowingly and falsely” promised it would meet the revised March 27, 2015, opening date for Baha Mar while concealing from the developer this was unlikely to be achieved.

Judge Borrok’s verdict identiﬁed six different contractual breaches by CCA, or violations of the investors’ agreement that governed the relationship between the two sides, while also citing what he described as “at least four

instances of fraud”. Mr Izmirlian, pointing out that CCA’s parent, CSCEC, is both majority owned by the Chinese government as well as being a public company through its listing on the Shanghai stock exchange, repeatedly recalled Judge Borrok’s ﬁndings that the testimony provided by the Chinese contractor’s witnesses “was not credible and was inconsistent” with the documentary evidence provided at the trial.

However, CCA and its afﬁliates have escalated their efforts to counter Mr Izmirlian’s releases by issuing a three-page document designed to refute “ten of the top false claims” they say are being spread by Baha Mar’s original developer.

Denying that CCA Bahamas, the entity said to be Baha Mar’s “construction manager”, deliberately delayed or held up the project’s completion, CCA asserted: “From the outset, the project was behind schedule because Baha Mar breached its obligations under the contract to timely provide design drawings to CCA Bahamas, which prevented CCA Bahamas from progressing construction as planned.

“In June 2012, Baha Mar ﬁred Baha Mar’s architect, which required much of the design work to be redone, and delayed the delivery of the design by more than two years.”

These arguments are much the same as those previously dismissed by Judge Borrok, but the Chinese state-owned contractor is alleging CCA Bahamas and CSCEC

Bahamas, the other two defendants in Mr Izmirlian’s case, are not CCA Construction afﬁliates.

A complex corporate chart, ﬁled with the New Jersey bankruptcy court as part of Mr Wei’s afﬁdavit, purports to show CCA Construction Inc as a separate entity with no ties to the Bahamian companies or operations. However, both it and the Bahamian entities come under CSCEC Holding Company, whose ultimate parent is China State Construction Engineering Corp.

Instead, CCA’s Bahamian entities are shown as owned by CCA International Group, a Delaware-incorporated entity. CCA Bahamas, which comes directly under this company, is shown as the immediate owner for Neworld One Bay Street and Strategic Property Holding Ltd, which are the holding entities for The Pointe complex and British Colonial resort in downtown Nassau, respectively.

However, Judge Borrok in his verdict ruled that “piercing the corporate veil” of CCA was correct as “there was substantial overlap between the ofﬁcers and directors” of CCA Bahamas, CSCEC Bahamas and CCA Construction Inc - contrary to CCA’s assertions. He found that the three entities were used interchangeably, as executives “slipped from entity to entity as it suited their needs”.

“The defendants consistently held themselves out as working on behalf of CCA Inc or otherwise conﬂated

and blurred beyond independent recognition their purportedly separate corporate existences,” Judge Borrok added. “Although CCA Bahamas was the project manager and general contractor for the project, the defendants often used CCA Inc letterhead, e-mails and signatures for project-related documents and communications.”

Still, CCA Construction Inc and its Bahamian afﬁliates are not abandoning their argument that it was Mr Izmirlian and his management team, not the contractor, who were responsible for the missed March 27, 2015, target opening that plunged the Baha Mar project into ﬁnancial crisis, its own Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and the original developer’s ouster.

Yan Wei, CCA Construction Inc’s chairman and chief executive, in a December 22, 2024, affidavit in support of the US arm’s Chapter 11 filing, asserted: “By 2014, the project was significantly delayed because of BML Properties’ mismanagement of Baha Mar, which fired its architect years into construction and delivered design drawings over two years behind schedule.

“And Baha Mar issued hundreds of change orders through the life of the project, further compounding delays. By the summer of 2014, all parties were projecting an opening date in the summer of 2015 and, by the fall of 2014, Baha Mar owed tens of millions in unpaid construction

invoices to CCA Bahamas.” Referring to the critical November 2014 meeting in Beijing, which was supposed to resolve Baha Mar and CCA’s differences and set out a road map for the mega resort’s completion, Mr Wei added: “Non-contractual minutes of the meeting reﬂect that Baha Mar promised to pay CCA Bahamas $54m as a settlement of CCA Bahamas’ claim to approximately $98m in unpaid construction invoices.

“CCA Bahamas stated that it would add Chinese workers to the project and use its best efforts to achieve a limited partial opening on March 27, 2015, on the condition that Baha Mar ‘“provide necessary assistance and co-operation’.” The $54m referenced by Mr Wei is the sum that Judge Borrok ruled was instead diverted, without Baha Mar’s knowledge, to ﬁnance the British Colonial’s acquisition. Nevertheless, Mr Wei continued: “CCA Bahamas took extraordinary measures to achieve the March 27 opening date. It brought in hundreds of workers from China, hired even more in The Bahamas, and worked diligently towards the March 27, 2015 date.

“Far from providing necessary assistance and co-operation, Baha Mar, by its president’s [Thomas Dunlap] own admission, continued to make design changes and ‘bombed’ its own deliverables, including failing to get a certiﬁcate of suitability to activate the licence to operate the casino at the casino hotel - the only

hotel they were attempting to open at that time.

“The project did not open on March 27, 2015, although construction was - by Baha Mar’s own admission - approximately 97 percent complete at that time. After March 27, CCA Bahamas continued to move the construction forward even after Baha Mar stopped paying,” the CCA Construction Inc chief added.

“Instead of collaborating with CCA Bahamas and its lender to complete the resort, BML Properties hatched a secret plot to place Baha Mar into a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. BML Properties sought to strip CSCEC Bahamas of its [$150m] minority investment and deprive CCA Bahamas of payment, using the debtor-in-possession lender on the project, which was another entity owned by Sarkis Izmirlian, to gain total control.

“It was undisputed at trial that BML Properties placed Baha Mar in bankruptcy without ﬁrst obtaining the required consent of CSCEC Bahamas, the minority investor, as contractually required. BML Properties even plotted to exclude, and successfully excluded, CSCEC Bahamas’ appointed director [Tiger Wu] from the boardroom when the decision to ﬁle Chapter 11 was voted on....

“This decision to commence an improper Chapter 11 case brought the project to a crashing halt with the erection of a chain link fence around the project, which precluded CCA Bahamas and Baha Mar from completing the project.”

BPL FUEL HIKE PROBE DELAYS ‘RAISES SUSPICIONS, CONCERN’

from page one

their BPL bill was so much higher than what the electricity utility was actually paying its fuel suppliers over the 17-month period between October 2022 and February 2024. And his call for the investigation’s ﬁndings to be made publicly available with “haste” was backed by Michael Pintard, the Opposition’s leader, who challenged why the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) has yet to complete an inquiry into whether BPL violated the law and accompanying regulations in collecting an extra $100m in recovered fuel costs from households and businesses.

The two men spoke out after URCA, in its 2025 annual plan, revealed that the probe has been delayed and is now scheduled to be completed next year after the costs involved exceeded the budget allocated by the regulator. As a result, the investigation’s scope has been “adjusted”, although it was not explained what this means, and the contract to carry it out has been re-bid.

“It’s vitally important that the Bahamian people

are made aware of the reasons why those fuel prices were hiked and the cause of it,” Mr McCartney told this newspaper. “We are the people who paid for it, and we should know. If you are paying for any type of increase, then those paying ought to know why.

“By not informing the public of what the cause would have been, that raises suspicions. It’s about trust. It [the delay] is certainly a disservice to the public, and causes grave concerns and curiosity as to why information is not forthcoming.

“As a matter of fact, it should be a right. The people of the country have to know what they’re paying for and the results of that report. We look forward to the end result and the ﬁndings. We as a people, we still ought to know. You never know what the ﬁndings may dictate; it may lead to other reports becoming necessary.”

Urging URCA to “make haste and make available”, Mr McCartney added of the fuel tariff hikes’ impact when they occurred: “Not only are they costing a pretty penny, but for many businesses and households they were unable to operate or even have electricity in their

households. Make haste and make available. Period.”

Mr Pintard, meanwhile, asserted that it was “frankly disappointing and odd” that URCA has not made more progress with its investigation. He suggested that, with signiﬁcant information already in the public domain, it was surprising that no preliminary report or ﬁndings have been produced.

“The Opposition has already gone on record as supporting a fulsome investigation into the matter. But it is frankly disappointing and odd that, by now, URCA is unable to provide at least a preliminary assessment of the matter with so much information readily available,” he said.

“We have brought up this matter in Parliament and we have written to URCA directly to demand an explanation on the following: Has BPL followed the law in relation to its use of revenue generated from a fuel surcharge?

“Given the permission of BPL from URCA to use a portion of its massive increase in surcharge to pay off a temporary loan obtained to cover fuel arrears, did BPL in fact use those funds as mandated by URCA? And if the funds

were used to pay off the loan, why do government ﬁnancial reports still indicate the majority of the loan outstanding?” Mr Pintard continued.

“With the information that is in the public domain, and with the information that URCA can command from BPL, there is no reason why URCA cannot provide a preliminary determination as to whether BPL is compliant with the lawful directives of URCA.

“It can not be that BPL has collected well over $100m in burdensome surcharges under a speciﬁc mandate, but URCA is still not able to indicate if BPL has operated within the parameters set by the regulator.”

Bahamian businesses and households alike are likely to be keen to know why they were burdened by such excessive charges for at least a 17-month period from October 2022 to February 2024 as BPL’s ‘glide path’ strategy sought to regain what was described

as ‘under-recovered’ fuel costs. Tribune Business reported at the time that the BPL ‘glide path’ initiative violated the law and accompanying regulations in at least two instances.

In the run-up to the ‘glide path’s’ implementation, the state-owned energy monopoly seemingly breached regulations introduced in 2020 that mandated it pass 100 percent of incurred fuel costs on to consumers via fuel charge portion of their bill.

For the period from November 2021 to October 2022, BPL seemingly failed to do this by keeping its fuel tariff at a constant 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour (KWh) even though its fuel hedge was unwinding because the newly-elected Davis administration had elected not to carry out the trades required to source more low-cost oil/fuel to support this price. As the hedge unwound, BPL’s rising fuel costs were not

passed to customers.

And, in the second instance, several sources suggested there was no legal or lawful basis for BPL to segment clients into two groups based on whether they consumed less or more than 800 kilowatt hours per month and charge them different fuel tariffs based on this. They explained that the law and regulations only allowed BPL to charge the same rate for all customers on the fuel charge portion of the bill.

It remains to be seen whether URCA’s promised review will be completed and ever made public. Both BPL and the Government are likely to be less eager for its publication not least because it will revive memories of ruinous energy costs for many as a result of the soaring fuel charge, which resulted from the failure to support the hedge and the Prime Minister’s decision to hold the tariff at 10.5 cents when it was not supported.

TOURISM REVENUE EXPANSION TO DRIVE 20K CORAL FRAGMENT OUTPUT

“With the opening of the new Celebration Key port on-island in 2025, along with other pending developments such as the forthcoming resort and upgraded international airport, millions of new tourists are expected to visit the island annually soon.

This IDB funding will allow Coral Vita to best service this rapidly growing tourism market and further reﬁne its sustainable local business model.”

Detailing how the ﬁnancing will be used, the IDB added: “To accommodate

the inﬂux of new coral farm visitors, expand offerings on-site and generate greater income streams, IDB Lab funds will be spent on upgrading and expanding tourism facilities and experiences at the farm.

“As well, a portion of funds will be used to grow and out-plant resilient coral into a nearby reef site so that Coral Vita can offer increased and more accessible snorkel experiences to guests. This restoration project will generate a positive impact on marine biodiversity and reefrelated ecosystem services - ﬁsheries, tourism - that

can be leveraged to secure new restoration contracts from reef-dependent customers, while also creating a reef site that can function as a unique tourism destination, which will be integrated into new tour enhancements.

“The investment into Coral Vita’s tourism offerings will further boost its ability to restore reefs in The Bahamas over the coming years, as the revenue streams developed will help to sustain its work in growing and out-planting over 20,000 coral fragments into the reefs of Grand Bahama each year.”

Some $500,000, or close to 50 percent of the total $1.015m funding, will come from the IDB in the form of a grant with the outstanding balance covered by counterpart ﬁnancing from Coral Vita “to enhance... the ecotourism offering and restore a tourism-focused reef area contributing to the conservation and restoration of marine biodiversity”. An environmental review of the project, issued this month, added: “The project is in the Grand Lucayan Waterway and helps restore coral reefs, which are vital for maintaining marine biodiversity and ecosystem

health. “Coral Vita will... redevelop the Coral Array area for better foot trafﬁc ﬂow; expand and enhance the Welcome Centre, gift shop, cafe, parking lot, education zone and boardwalks, and install a larger canal dock to accommodate tourism boats.”

The project will also train staff to manage increased tourist trafﬁc and restore marine health and biodiversity to boost “ecotourism appeal by growing and transplanting corals to support marine biodiversity... The facility operates with a current workforce of 17 full-time staff, 41 percent women. One hundred percent of staff is directly employed”.

Sam Teicher, who cofounded Coral Vita with Gaitor Halpern, told Tribune Business in a recent interview: “

“The grant is really going to help us upgrade and accelerate the work we’re doing. The funding will pay for infrastructure upgrades at the farm to enhance the tourism and education experience.

“Also, the number of people visiting the island is expected to increase with everything from the Six Senses resort to the Carnival cruise port and upgrades to the existing cruise port at Freeport Harbour and when the airport

gets upgraded. It’s all about increasing the capacity of the farm so it will be much more of a world-class experience for eco-tourism and training.

“We’ll continue growing coral to restore the local reefs, which has coastal protection and fisheries benefits. We are restoring reefs in Grand Bahama for the benefit of the island, the economy and the community. As the farm continues to grow, we’ll be able to help restore reefs throughout the country,” he explained.

“We can grow coral to revitalise reefs throughout The Bahamas. The grant puts us on the pathway to revitalise Bahamian reefs. It’s great for Coral Vita, great for local businesses, great for the local community and great for The Bahamas, and having a greater multiplier effect is what we are working for.”

Increased revenues generated by Coral Vita’s farm and eco-tourism attraction will thus enable the project to ramp-up coral growing production and revitalise more reefs that are increasingly endangered by ocean warming and the perils of climate change. And it is these same reefs and ecosystems that sustain much of The Bahamas’ ocean or ‘blue economy’, particularly ﬁsheries as well as tourism.

N O T I C E

KANDINSKY S.A.

(In Voluntary Liquidation)

Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act 2000, the above-named Company is in dissolution, which commenced on the 23rd day of December, 2024. The Liquidator is Windermere Corporate Management Limited, 200 Sterling Commons East, Paradise Island, Bahamas.

WINDERMERE CORPORATE MANAGEMENT LIMITED Liquidator

N O T I C E

RIVER PLATE S.A.

(In Voluntary Liquidation)

WINDERMERE CORPORATE MANAGEMENT LIMITED Liquidator

N O T I C E

FRISER LIMITED

(In Voluntary Liquidation)

WINDERMERE CORPORATE MANAGEMENT LIMITED Liquidator

‘Best interest’ of all to protect hotels from Sarkis-CCA ﬁght

from page one

bankruptcy protection in New Jersey, in a bid to protect its assets and business from any attempt by Mr Izmirlian to enforce the $1.642bn in damages awarded to him by the New York State Supreme Court, the Opposition chairman said: “I’m sure we are all watching this chess game as it plays out.

“This was an interesting, if not surprising, move on the part of CCA given its beneﬁcial owner [the Chinese government]. I wouldn’t have thought it would have come to this.

We saw Sarkis Izmirlian use a similar strategy many years ago, and it may simply be stalling for time. As they consider their options, they pulled the trump card.

“It is a legal manoevere, and I say that for all deﬁnitions of the word. As this continues to meander through the legal system, we expect there will ultimately be some resolution,” Dr Sands continued. “I think, again, the ability of Sarkis Izmirlian to play the long game... he has been able to accomplish what appears to be justice in this instance.

“Now it’s a matter of how this will ultimately conclude. At some point in the future another appeal is possible but we can only speculate until all legal options are exhausted.” CCA had previously offered to pledge its two Nassau resorts, the British Colonial and Margaritaville Beach Resort, as security towards the $1.9bn bond required to help the Chinese contractor pursue its New York appeal against Mr Izmirlian’s award.

Genguo Ju, CCA (Bahamas) executive vice-president, asserted in a recent afﬁdavit that the shares giving it ownership of both resorts were valued at $146m in the company’s most recent audited ﬁnancial statements. And an appraisal conducted earlier this year had priced the combined real estate worth of the two properties at between $232.7m and $355.1m.

Based on Dr Sands’ position, both the Opposition and the Government are for the moment united in their

belief that the US legal battle between Mr Izmirlian and CCA poses no threat to the two downtown Nassau resorts or their workforces since it is in the best interest of all that they remain open to generate revenues and potential proﬁts for whoever their owner may ultimately be.

“As to the question you’ve asked, what impact it will have on The Bahamas, I’m not sure it will not necessarily change what happens on the ground,” Dr Sands said. “The hotels by any other name or owner can still function. We’ve seen Atlantis change ownership with nary a missed beat. Many times we’re not aware of who has purchased these hotels and the service continues.

“Baha Mar is not at risk and the two hotels are obviously considerably more valuable for both parties if they are doing well. For either party and the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, the best interests of all would be served by a high-quality product causing for increased revenue, a full house of patrons and providing quality service. That is what will be important for The Bahamas.

“Which is not to say efforts will not be used to leverage inﬂuence, and there may be limited or whole threats to do so,” the FNM chairman added of the two downtown Nassau resorts. “But I shouldn’t honestly think any of those things will come to pass. It doesn’t make any business sense to do that.

“It [the legal battle] makes for an interesting soap opera, and I’m sure we can all sit back with our pop corn and watch it all pay out. Let’s watch and see what happens.” Prime Minister Philip Davis KC, in recent comments on the situation, hinted the Government would play a decisive role in any ownership change for the British Colonial and Margaritaville Beach Resort because it would have to approve the transaction.

This, though, remains a long way off if it ever occurs and depends on the outcome of CCA’s battle with Mr Izmirlian. Meanwhile, Michael Pintard, the Opposition’s leader, in a signed statement yesterday

THE BRITISH ECONOMY FLATLINES IN 3RD QUARTER IN ANOTHER BLOW TO NEW LABOUR GOVERNMENT

LONDON Associated Press

THE British economy

flatlined in the third quarter of the year, according to downwardly revised official figures Monday, in another blow to the new Labour government that has made growth its number one mission.

In its latest revision of the July to September period, the Ofﬁce for National Statistics said the British economy showed no growth against the previous estimate of 0.1%.

The agency partly blamed the reduction on fresh survey data showing weaker trading across bars and restaurants.

The reduction has prompted critics to say that Labour talked down the economy on taking power on July 5 for the ﬁrst time in 14 years when it described its economic inheritance from the previous Conservative administration as being the worst in generations.

Treasury chief Rachel Reeves promised to

demanded that the Prime Minister “stop stalling and launch a full investigation” into the $2.3m that was paid by CCA to a company headed by the son of then-prime minister Perry Christie’s senior policy adviser when the Baha Mar dispute was at its peak.

“While Prime Minister Davis buries his head in the sand, court documents reveal how CCA secured government favour through a $2m contract with a company led by the son of a senior PLP advisor who managed the Government’s dealings with the Baha Mar project at the time,” Mr Pintard blasted.

“We demand that the Prime Minister stop stalling and launch a full investigation into the $2.3m payout tied to CCA....... With CCA ﬁling for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, there is a need to move with a sense of urgency.

“We hope the Government has not forgotten that we are still awaiting an investigation to determine which entities linked to Bahamian ofﬁcials pocketed hundreds of thousands in donations from Sam Bankman-Fried and the FTX exchange. What were these donations for, and who reaped the beneﬁts? These answers would be a great gift under the Bahamian people’s Christmas tree,” the FNM leader added.

“The Prime Minister must do more than boast about The Bahamas being a reputable place to do business. He must thoroughly investigate every hint of wrongdoing, no matter who gets caught in the process. As I have said repeatedly, where necessary the investigations must cover the periods when the FNM was in ofﬁce. We have no issue with fairness and accountability. Let the chips fall as they may.”

The $2.3m was paid by CCA in a series of installments to Notarc Management Group between December 2014 and January 2016. Notarc’s chief executive is Leslie Bethel,

son of Sir Baltron Bethel, senior policy adviser to Mr Christie and among the then-government’s leading ofﬁcials working on the Baha Mar dispute.

The payments were said to be in return for Notarc helping CCA to establish operations in Panama and Latin America, and to bid on construction projects in that region. When Tribune Business ﬁrst revealed the details in November 2022, both Sir Baltron and his son denied any impropriety or that the monies inﬂuenced the former’s stance towards the dispute and his advice

to the then-Government and its actions.

However, Judge Andrew Borrok, in the judgment that awarded Mr Izmirlian $1.642bn in damages against CCA, found: “The defendants actively worked to curry favour with the Bahamian government and behind the back of Baha Mar.

“Through the end of 2014 to the beginning of 2016, the CSCEC Bahamas Board member had CCA Bahamas pay the consulting company, Notarc, belonging to Leslie Bethel, son of Sir Baltron Bethel, a senior

advisor to the Bahamian Prime Minister, approximately $2.3m, purportedly for consulting services related to business opportunities in Panama.”

CSCEC is China State Construction and Engineering Corporation, CCA’s parent, which is also owned by the Beijing government.

“The record evidence establishes, at the very least, that the defendants relied on their business relationship with Leslie Bethel to gain access to Sir Baltron Bethel and, by extension, the Bahamian government,” the judge concluded.

turbocharge economic growth after Labour won the July election but has now seen the economy stall over the three months to September, while ofﬁcial ﬁgures earlier this month also pointed towards a 0.1% decline in October.

“The challenge we face to fix our economy and properly fund our public finances after 15 years of neglect is huge,” she said. In her first budget in late October, Reeves raised taxes on businesses to help shore up public finances and ailing services. Many economists say the budget has further damaged the British economy as many businesses are responding to the tax rise by either raising prices or reducing employees or wages.

Mel Stride, the economy spokesman for the Conservatives, said “warning lights are ﬂashing” on the economy.

“Having inherited the fastest-growing economy in the G-7, growth has tanked on Labour’s watch,” Stride said.

NISSAN AND HONDA TO ATTEMPT A MERGER THAT

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and ELAINE KURTENBACH Associated Press

JAPANESE automak-

ers Honda and Nissan have announced plans to work toward a merger that would form the world’s thirdlargest automaker by sales, as the industry undergoes dramatic changes in its transition away from fossil fuels.

The two companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday and that smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors Corp. also had agreed to join the talks on integrating their businesses.

Automakers in Japan have lagged behind their big rivals in electric vehicles and are trying to cut costs and make up for lost time as newcomers like China’s BYD and EV market leader Tesla devour market share.

Honda’s president, Toshihiro Mibe, said Honda and Nissan will attempt to unify their operations under a joint holding company.

Honda will lead the new management, retaining the principles and brands of each company. They aim to have a formal merger agreement by June and to complete the deal and list the holding company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by August 2026, he said.

No dollar value was given and the formal talks are just starting, Mibe said.

There are “points that need to be studied and discussed,” he said. “Frankly speaking, the possibility of this not being implemented is not zero.”

A merger could result in a behemoth worth more than $50 billion based on the market capitalisation of all three automakers. Together, Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi would gain scale to compete with Toyota Motor Corp and with Germany’s Volkswagen AG. Toyota has technology partnerships with Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp and Subaru Corp.

News of a possible merger surfaced earlier this month, with unconﬁrmed reports saying Taiwan iPhone maker Foxconn was seeking to tie up with Nissan by buying shares from the Japan’s company’s other alliance partner, Renault SA of France.

Nissan’s CEO Makoto Uchida said Foxconn had not directly approach his company. He also acknowledged that Nissan’s situation was “severe:.

Even after a merger Toyota, which rolled out 11.5 million vehicles in 2023, would remain the leading Japanese automaker. If they join, the three smaller companies would make about 8 million vehicles. In 2023, Honda made 4 million and Nissan produced 3.4 million. Mitsubishi Motors made just over 1 million.

“We have come to the realisation that in order for both parties to be leaders in this mobility transformation, it is necessary to make a more bold change than a collaboration in speciﬁc areas,” Mibe said.

Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi earlier agreed to share components for electric vehicles like batteries and to jointly research

NOTICE is hereby given that KATY JEAN of Hanna Hill, Eight Mile Rock, Grand Bahama, The Bahamas 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 twenty-eight days from the 24th day of December, 2024 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

NOTICE is hereby given that RASHELL BRANDA UTILE of Faith Avenue North, Carmichael Road, New Providence, Bahamas 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 twenty-eight days from the 17th day of December, 2024 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147,

NOTICE is hereby given that MONTINAT CLAUDE of Fritz Lane off East Street, New Providence, Bahamas 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 17th day of December, 2024 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

software for autonomous driving to adapt better to electriﬁcation.

Nissan has struggled following a scandal that began with the arrest of its former chairman Carlos Ghosn in late 2018 on charges of fraud and misuse of company assets, allegations that he denies. He eventually was released on bail and ﬂed to Lebanon.

Speaking Monday to reporters in Tokyo via a video link, Ghosn derided the planned merger as a “desperate move”.

From Nissan, Honda could get truck-based bodyon-frame large SUVs such as the Armada and Inﬁniti QX80 that Honda doesn’t have, with large towing capacities and good offroad performance, Sam

NOTICE

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 17th day of December, 2024 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

Fiorani, vice president of AutoForecast Solutions, told The Associated Press.

Nissan also has years of experience building batteries and electric vehicles, and gas-electric hybrid powertrains that could help Honda in developing its own EVs and next generation of hybrids, he said.

But the company said in November that it was slashing 9,000 jobs, or about 6% of its global work force, and reducing its global production capacity by 20% after reporting a quarterly loss of 9.3 billion yen ($61 million).

It recently reshuffled its management and Uchida, its chief executive, took a 50% pay cut while acknowledging responsibility for the financial woes, saying Nissan needed to become more efficient and respond better to market tastes, rising costs and other global changes.

“We anticipate that if this integration comes to fruition, we will be able to deliver even greater value to a wider customer base,” Uchida said.

Fitch Ratings recently downgraded Nissan’s credit outlook to “negative,” citing worsening proﬁtability, partly due to price cuts in the North American

market. But it noted that it has a strong ﬁnancial structure and solid cash reserves that amounted to 1.44 trillion yen ($9.4 billion).

Nissan’s share price also had fallen to the point where it is considered something of a bargain. On Monday, its Tokyo-traded shares gained 1.6%. They jumped more than 20% after news of the possible merger broke last week. Honda’s shares surged 3.8%. Honda’s net profit slipped nearly 20% in the first half of the April-March fiscal year from a year earlier, as its sales suffered in China.

The merger reﬂects an industry-wide trend toward consolidation.

At a routine brieﬁng Monday, Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said he would not comment on details of the automakers’ plans, but said Japanese companies need to stay competitive in the fast changing market.

“As the business environment surrounding the automobile industry largely changes, with competitiveness in storage batteries and software is increasingly important, we expect measures needed to survive international competition will be taken,” Hayashi said.

NOTICE is hereby given that TASMIN MILECHE BROWN of #233 Beldock Avenue, Carmichael Road, Nassau, Bahamas 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 twenty-eight days from the 24th day of December, 2024 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

NISSAN chief executive Makoto Uchida, left, and Honda president Toshihiro Mibe.

COMPANY OFFICIAL CHARGED IN OIL-CHEMICAL DISCHARGE INTO MICHIGAN’S FLINT RIVER

FLINT, Michigan

Associated Press

THE president of a chemical company has been charged in connection with the unauthorised discharge of oil that left a miles-long dark, oily sheen on the Flint River in Michigan more than two years ago.

Rajinder Singh Minhas, 60, of Rochester, Michigan, was arrested and arraigned last week on charges of falsely altering a public record, substantial endangerment to the public, discharge of injurious substance to waters of the state, false statements and omissions regarding air pollution control and other charges, Michigan

Attorney General Dana Nessel said Monday.

Minhas also served as director and treasurer of Flint-based Lockhart Chemical which manufactures coatings, metalworking additives, hydraulic ﬂuids and lubricants.

Critical maintenance and upgrades at the facility allegedly were mismanaged and neglected, Nessel said in a release.

About 15,000 gallons of an oil-chemical mixture

was released June 15, 2022. The spill came from a storm sewer that discharges into the river, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy said at the time.

The state later required the company to immediately stop using defective wastewater and stormwater conveyance systems and to make other changes. Lockhart has since ﬁled for bankruptcy. Officials said Flint’s drinking water was not threatened. Flint used the river for drinking water in 2014-15 before lead contamination caused the city to return to Lake Huron water provided by a regional supplier.

Minhas has been released on a personal bond and is due back in court on January 2 for a probable cause conference, according to court records.

The Associated Press attempted Monday to reach Lockhart Chemical for comment, but the telephone number listed for the company was disconnected. A voicemail seeking comment was left Monday afternoon for Minhas’ attorney.

NOTICE is hereby given that

CHILES FERTILIEN of All Saints Way, Golden Isles Road, Nassau, The Bahamas 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 twenty-eight days from the 24th day of December, 2024 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

is hereby given that PATRICIA GREEN CAMPBELL of #233 Beldock Avenue, Carmichael Road, Nassau, Bahamas 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 twenty-eight days from the 24th day of December, 2024 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

NOTICE

Jasmine Advisory Ltd. In Voluntary Liquidation

Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act. 2000, Jasmine Advisory Ltd. is in dissolution as of December 20, 2024.

Lighthouse Corporate Services Ltd. situated at Ofﬁces at Unit#3, Pineapple Grove, Western Road, Nassau, The Bahamas is the Liquidator.

NOTICE

Sugar Apple Advisory Ltd. In Voluntary Liquidation

Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act. 2000, Sugar Apple Advisory Ltd. is in dissolution as of December 20, 2024.

Lighthouse Corporate Services Ltd. situated at Ofﬁces at Unit#3, Pineapple Grove, Western Road, Nassau, The Bahamas is the Liquidator.

Sapodilla Advisory Ltd. In Voluntary Liquidation

Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act. 2000, Sapodilla Advisory Ltd. is in dissolution as of December 20, 2024 .

Lighthouse Corporate Services Ltd. situated at Ofﬁces at Unit#3, Pineapple Grove, Western Road, Nassau, The Bahamas is the Liquidator.

CITY, Genesee County and state of Michigan agencies respond to an oil spill in the Flint River, Wednesday, June 15, 2022.

Photo: Jake May/MLive.com/The Flint Journal via AP

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer

CENTURY-OLD department store Nordstrom has agreed to be acquired and taken private by Nordstrom family members and a Mexican retail group in a $6.25 billion deal with the industry being squeezed by discount chains and other competition.

Public companies are under a lot more scrutiny and if private, the Nordstrom may have more leeway in reviving a department store chain that has been attempting to reinvigorate sales for years.

Nordstrom shareholders will receive $24.25 in cash for each share of Nordstrom common stock, or about $4 billion in all, representing a 42% premium on the company’s stock as of March 18, when reports of a potential transaction was reported by the media.

The acquiring group will also pick up more than $2 billion in Nordstrom debt.

The traditional department stores have suffered in the face of withering competition from giants like Walmart and Target, as well as a host of fast-fashion bands and Amazon.com.

Nordstrom rivals Macy’s and Kohl’s have been pressured by major investors to make huge changes in order to return more proﬁt to shareholders.

Sales at Nordstrom have essentially ﬂatlined over the past decade or so and it announced last year that it was closing all of its Canadian stores and cutting 2,500 jobs as it winds down operations in the country.

Nordstrom ﬁrst announced plans to expand to Canada in 2012 and opened its ﬁrst store in Calgary at CF Chinook Centre in September 2014.

The offer announced Monday tops the previous $23-per-share bid that the Nordstrom family and Mexican retail group, El Puerto de Liverpool, made in September.

The board also plans to authorise a special dividend of up to 25 cents per share, based on Nordstrom’s cash on hand immediately prior to and contingent on the close of the transaction.

The deal is expected to close in the ﬁrst half of 2025, at which time the company’s shares will no longer trade publicly.

“While a change in ownership does not automatically remedy all of the problems with the department store operation, it will allow the family and their backers to take a long-term view of the business and make necessary investments and changes away from the short-term scrutiny of public markets,” wrote Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, in a note to clients.

Nordstrom’s board of directors unanimously approved the the proposed transaction, with members Erik and Pete Nordstrom, part of the Nordstrom family taking over the company — recusing themselves from that vote.

Following the close of the transaction, the Nordstrom family will have a majority ownership stake in the company.

Erik and Pete Nordstrom are the fourth-generation leadership at the Seattle retailer, which was founded in 1901 as a shoe store. Erik is the company’s chief executive and Peter is president.

After opening 23 new stores so far this year, the company now operates a combined 381 Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack stores in the US.

Nordstrom shares fell about 1.5% on Monday, but they are up 34% this year on rumors of a family takeover. The company’s stock is still down considerably from post-pandemic highs above $40 per share.

In May of this year, Bruce Nordstrom, a retail executive who helped expand his family’s Paciﬁc Northwest department store chain into an upscale national brand, died at age 90. He was one of several Nordstrom family members who in 2017 made a push to take the company private, proposing to buy out the 70% of the department store’s stock they didn’t already own. Those talks failed in 2018 but earlier this year, his sons started another series of buyout negotiations, leading to Monday’s announcement.

NOTICE

Cascarilla Advisory Ltd. In Voluntary Liquidation

Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act. 2000, Cascarilla Advisory Ltd. is in dissolution as of December 20, 2024.

Lighthouse Corporate Services Ltd. situated at Ofﬁces at Unit#3, Pineapple Grove, Western Road, Nassau, The Bahamas is the Liquidator.

NOTICE

ERUZ Investments Inc. In Voluntary Liquidation

Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act. 2000, ERUZ Investments Inc. is in dissolution as of December 20, 2024.

International Liquidator Services Ltd. situated at 3rd Floor Whitﬁeld Tower, 4792 Coney Drive, Belize City, Belize is the Liquidator.

NOTICE

LDM Business Investment Ltd. In Voluntary Liquidation

Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act. 2000, LDM Business Investment Ltd. is in dissolution as of December 20, 2024.

GUSTAVO DOS SANTOS VAZ situated at Avenida Bem - Te - Vi (0124), Moema 04524-030, Sao Paulo - Brazil is the Liquidator.

TAMARIND Advisory Ltd. In Voluntary Liquidation

Notice is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138(4) of the International Business Companies Act. 2000, TAMARIND Advisory Ltd. is in dissolution as of December 20, 2024.

Lighthouse Corporate Services Ltd. situated at Ofﬁces at Unit#3, Pineapple Grove, Western Road, Nassau, The Bahamas is the Liquidator.

L I Q U I D A T O R