The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A well-known Bahamian contractor and local financial analyst were yesterday said to have partnered on a bid to transform Dorian-ravaged Grand Bahama International Airport.

High-level Tribune Business sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed that Bahamas Hot Mix and CFAL president, Anthony Ferguson, are part of a group competing for the right to redevelop, finance and manage Grand Bahama’s main aviation gateway under a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement with the Government.

Anthony Myers, Bahamas Hot Mix’s chairman and founder, was tight-lipped when contacted by this newspaper and declined to comment. “I can’t comment on it at this stage. It’s not appropriate for me to comment on that project,” he said. Mr Ferguson could not be reached for comment, as calls and messages to both his office and cell phone went unanswered.

However, this newspaper was told that there were up to four bids vying for the PPP contract with the group involving Bahamas Hot Mix (now known as BHM Company) and Mr Ferguson likely to be considered among the front-runners by the Davis administration. All participants are understood to have been signed up to non-disclosure agreements by the Government, which is keen to maintain a veil of confidentiality over the process.

“There were four different proposals and they’re still in the process of evaluating the offers that were made,” one contact said of the Government. Another added: “I understand there are two groups - Bahamian-led consortiums. I was told that they’re not international players; they’re Bahamians, local guys. I heard there were two entities that they’re choosing between, and heard they’re both local.”

The same source said the Government is also seeking to relocate Grand Bahama International Airport from its present flood-prone site to a new plot nearby. “They’ve decided to give up on the airport site and go across the road,” they added. “They’ve decided to move it. No longer are they going to use the old site. They’re moving it and are going to relocate the airport across the road in an area of land that doesn’t flood. It will make it a lot easier to do and make a lot of sense if that’s where they move it to.”

The involvement of Bahamas Hot Mix and Mr Ferguson/CFAL in a Grand Bahama International Airport bid would make sense, as one party could provide the necessary construction expertise while the other arranges the necessary financing for the facility’s redevelopment.

Airport construction, maintenance and improvement is listed as one of Bahamas Hot Mix (BHM Company’s) specialty areas on its website, and it has long experience of working at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) on areas such as runway paving and resurfacing.

The company also last year announced the expansion of its Freeport-based concrete and asphalt production capabilities, and its plant will enable it to supply Grand Bahama International Airport with these product needs during reconstruction. BHM also has international reach via its London, UK-based entity, which will help connect with potential airport/operating partners.

Bahamas Hot Mix, which is one of the major infrastructure developers in the country, features several prominent Bahamians on its Board. Peter Andrews, Bahamas Waste’s chair, is its vice-chair while the company’s treasurer is Craig Symonette, head of the Symonette Group and Bahamas Ferries. John Bethell, of Bethell Estates, is company secretary, and another shareholder is the trust for former deputy prime minister, Brent Symonette’s children.

Mr Ferguson and CFAL, meanwhile, would be well-placed to both source and structure Bahamas-based capital to finance the airport’s redevelopment given their existing role in the Bahamian capital markets. The CFAL chief is understood to be close to the Davis administration, and has been handed the responsibility to “financially engineer and structure” The Bahamas’ proposed blue carbon credits “and to create a network to effectively market, sell and monetise carbon credits”.

Tribune Business, meanwhile, understands that Dublin Airport Authority, which was previously named as having an interest in a Grand Bahama International Airport bid, is not connected to the group involving BHM Company and Mr Ferguson/CFAL although it may be involved with another.

Founded in 1937, the company operates the airports in Dublin and Cork, and has interests in another 18 airports spread across 16 countries including Bridgetown in Barbados, and Winnipeg, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax in Canada.

Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister, and who has responsibility for seeking GB airport’s private sector development partner in his capacity as minister of tourism, investments and aviation, has repeatedly suggested that an announcement on a preferred bidder is imminent. He has indicated that it may now come in the 2023 first quarter.

Grand Bahama International’s redevelopment following the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Dorian in September 2019 is seen as a vital component in the island’s tourism and economic rebound. Besides being the first and last impression for visitors, the airport is also critical to facilitating the airlift that drives tourism and other commercial activity on the island.

Its transformation goes hand-in-hand with the long-running, and so far unsuccessful, efforts to sell the Grand Lucayan resort as one needs the other to be financially sustainable. The redevelopment, led by the winning bidder, will also play a key role in attracting the US government to reinstate pre-clearance facilities in Grand Bahama.

In the short-term, though, a winning bidder’s ability to generate the necessary cash flow and revenues to service any debt financing could be impacted by a lack of passenger traffic despite the Government’s efforts to build airlift with new Bahamasair and Sunwing flights.

And Tribune Business previously reported that Grand Bahama International Airport suffered an $8.129m operating loss in the two-and-a-half years leading up to its 2021 purchase by the Government from Hutchison Whampoa and the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA).

For 2019, Grand Bahama’s major aviation gateway suffered a $1.826m operational loss, with total revenues of $9.608m exceeded by $11.435m worth of expenses. This contrasted with both 2018 and 2017, when the airport earned operating income of $2.61m and $1.208m, respectively.

COVID-19, though, took Grand Bahama International Airport’s operational losses to a new low. That was achieved in 2020 with a $5.451m operating loss based on total expenses worth $8.497m far exceeding revenues of $3.036m, with the latter depressed by the lack of air traffic and passenger volumes due to the double blow inflicted by the pandemic’s travel restrictions and Dorian’s impact on the tourism and hotel plant.

The operating losses continued into the first four months of 2021, hitting $851,000 for the period between January and April 2021, with $945,000 in revenues once more exceeded by some $1.796m in operating expenses. That further ‘red ink’ was incurred just before the Government acquired the airport from Hutchison-controlled Freeport Harbour Company, its immediate parent, in May/June 2021.

A previous Request for Proposal (RFP) document, issued under the Minnis administration, also said the Government was seeking a private sector partner to invest $150m-$200m at the high-end on Grand Bahama International Airport’s transformation.