The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A well-known businessman yesterday said it would be a “curious” use of retirement contributions for the National Insurance Board (NIB) to acquire the former City Markets office on East-West Highway, and called for full “transparency” should any transaction materialise.

Responding to Tribune Business’s exclusive revelations that NIB was assessing whether to make an offer to acquire the property from City Markets’ employee pension fund, Rick Lowe, an executive with the Nassau Institute think-tank, expressed concern that this was being driven by the Government’s need to escape a political jam.

Former City Markets employees have put pressure on the Christie administration to help obtain the severance pay, benefits and pension fund money due to them, but at the same time the Government is likely to want to avoid upsetting the supermarket chain’s largest majority shareholder, the Finlayson family, one of its major political backers.

Getting NIB to acquire the property would go a long way to resolving the pension fund issue, and Mr Lowe told Tribune Business: “I hope friendships in politics are not playing a part.

“It’s curious that public funds would be used to buy a building, for whatever purpose, that the private sector doesn’t want to buy. It’s people’s retirement funds, or what’s billed as taxpayer retirement funds.

“Are they buying it at full market value before the slump, or current market value with repricing in mind.

“Hopefully, they’ll be transparent and confirm to the Bahamian public exactly what they’re paying for it.”

Mr Lowe questioned NIB would buy commercial buildings, as it was essentially investing retiree funds into illiquid assets.

And he asked what NIB would do with a building that was built for a food store chain’s warehouse, questioning whether costs would be involved to renovate it.

“Bearing in mind that back in August, Prime Minister Perry Christie reportedly told former City Market associates that he would be resolving the matter, it seems peculiar that the NIB would buy a building that it does not appear can be sold on the open market. Surely they would want to invest in assets that they could recoup retiree’s cash quickly, or is there more to this than meets the eye,” Mr Lowe asked.

“And while there is every reason to feel empathy for all involved, the lesson of using the pension funds of the City Market employees to build the warehouse and office complex in the first place should give pause and provide a direction of what not to do with the national pension fund.”