NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Any proposed change in ownership or control of the Grand Bahama Port Authority must be measured against long-standing principles aimed at ensuring Freeport’s sustainable development according to Chairman of the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce Dillon Knowles, as reports surface of a fully Bahamian investor group seeking to acquire the GBPA.
Knowles was responding to a report published by Tribune Business indicating that a Bahamian-led consortium is attempting to raise more than $400 million to finance the purchase of the GBPA and several of its core economic assets. The proposed acquisition vehicle, Born Free Capital, is described as being led by Kanoo chairman and co-founder Nicholas Rees, alongside attorney John Bostwick and Paige Waugh, the granddaughter of Super Value founder Rupert Roberts.
Reflecting on the Chamber’s past engagement with government on Freeport’s future, Knowles said:“A decade ago, GB Chamber responded to a request from Government for a vision for Freeport. The principle that undergirded the Chamber’s response was: The need for the administration of the city to be under the control of the various stakeholders of Grand Bahama, and that the asset holding companies need to be controlled by entities that have the vision, and financial and intellectual capital to develop a city of 250,000 residents, not just be a promoter of land sales. Those were sound principles at the time and continue to be so today. The significance of any change in the existing structure should be judged against those critical criteria.”
The reported bid comes at a sensitive moment, as the Davis administration awaits the outcome of an arbitration process concerning claims that the GBPA owes hundreds of millions of dollars to the Public Treasury under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement. Any change in ownership of the Port Authority would require government approval. Eyewitness News also attempted to reach Kanoo’s co-founder Nicholas Rees but did not receive a response by publication time.
