The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A former Cabinet minister says he was “moved” by multiple factors to partner with Sir Franklyn Wilson in developing the Jack’s Bay project, and urged Bahamians: “We’ve got to invest in or country.”

Dionisio D’Aguilar, ex-minister of tourism and aviation in the Minnis administration, told Tribune Business that those “with a couple of dollars” to spare must put them to work by investing in tourism and other productive enterprises so that the wider Bahamian economy can enjoy much faster growth rates.

Speaking after it was confirmed he is joining Sir Franklyn and multiple other Bahamians as an investor in the Eleuthera-based project, he disclosed that he is targeting returns higher than the standard 6-7 percent available on standard Bahamian dollar preference share issues.

Declining to confirm the size of his Jack’s Bay investment, or the equity percentage he will hold in the development and its immediate parent, Eleuthera Properties Ltd, Mr D’Aguilar told this newspaper that Sir Franklyn and the project’s management/financial team made “a very credible case” as to why he should entrust them with his capital.

In particular he noted that fellow ex-tourism minister, Tommy Turnquest, with whom he worked while in government as chairman of Bahamasair, is managing Jack’s Bay’s day-to-day operations - a factor that gave him extra confidence and made the decision less risky.

“I was moved by the presentation, moved by the project, moved by the other people involved in the project to invest. I was moved to invest,” Mr D’Aguilar told Tribune Business. “A pitch was made by Sir Franklyn and his financial team, led by Tommy Turnquest, where a very credible case was put forward for attractive returns given the ever-increasing interest in the project.

“The project has been going on for quite some time. It’s been carefully and patiently been put together over the years to get to this position where, as Sir Franklyn says, they are where they’re at without having any outstanding debt. I was always interested, during my time as minister of tourism, to seek out an investment in the tourism sector after I left office because, as you know, probably most of my investment is in my business, Superwash.”

Signalling that he took what is commonly known as a ‘cooling off’ period, waiting for over a year after stepping down from ministerial office before assessing potential tourism-related investments, he added: “When you spend four-and-a-half years as minister of tourism and see the potential of the industry, one has to bide one’s time after demiting office and looking at opportunities in the tourism sector that provide attractive returns.

“When it comes to investment, there are a lot of people with ideas, but you also have to look at the team running the project. Sir Franklyn, I have to say, is the grandfather of this project but Tommy Turnquest is the day-to-day manager. I worked with Tommy Turnquest when he was chairman of Bahamasair. I watched his style and how he operated. It was attractive that he is the principal driver and manager of this project.”

Mr D’Aguilar said further factors in Jack’s Bay’s favour, besides Eleuthera’s natural beauty, are the greater resilience that Family Island tourism has shown compared to New Providence when confronted by global recessions and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recalling The Bahamas’ focus on “the discerning upmarket traveller” when he was tourism minister, he added that Eleuthera was well-positioned to cater to the growing visitor market seeking remote experiences and looking for second home investments.

And, with exchange controls still restricting the ability of Bahamians to diversify investment portfolios abroad, Mr D’Aguilar urged locals to inject capital into the nation’s largest industry - via the likes of boutique hotels and vacation rentals - along with other productive industries as a means to grow the economy and create jobs.

“We’ve got to invest in our country,” he told Tribune Business. “I think it’s very, very important to continually reinvest in our country because that’s how we cause the economy to keep growing. If you keep it in the bank and it earns zero percent, and the bank only lends that for consumer loans, that does not bring about national development. If you have a couple of dollars, try and invest in your country and in enterprises that are going to have a significant economic impact.

“My family was invested in the tourism sector in the late 1970s. We owned the Dolphin Hotel on the corner of Nassau Street and West Bay Street. We owned that hotel from 1979 to 1992. Unfortunately, it did not go well. It wasn’t a profitable investment, but nevertheless we invested in it. I think we’re a lot more savvy and have a lot more management expertise to begin to invest more heavily in our tourism sector.

“You look at the smaller boutique hotels like The Other Side in Harbour Island. These are all hotels that are predominantly Bahamian and the investors are Bahamian. They’re doing very well. Our tourism sector continues to rebound nicely following COVID-19, and cruise passengers continue to grow by leaps and bounds.”

Mr D’Aguilar said the potential returns available via Jack’s Bay were attractive compared to the alternatives.”You get zero in the bank, 3-4 percent on government bonds and 6-7 percent on preference shares,” he added, stating he was targeting anything north of that.

“This is not a start-up, and with start-ups there’s a hell of a lot more risk,” he continued. “Sir Franklyn and his group have been at this for many, many years. They’ve learnt a lot in the process. Now there’s seemingly ever-increasing interest in it, and they’ve always been slow and deliberate to make sure they don’t over-leverage it.”

Jack’s Bay, which in April 2023 revealed that renowned golfer, Jack Nicklaus, and his company will design and develop a $20m, 18-hole golf course at the property to complement the existing shorter course produced by Tiger Woods’s firm, has also launched its latest ‘founders programme’ featuring 24 sites valued between $1m and $3m.

The project has a large number of Bahamian shareholders in its immediate holding company, Eleuthera Properties. While Sir Franklyn’s Sunshine Holdings group is the largest shareholder, its other investors include the likes of Colina, BAF Financial, the John Bull Group of Companies and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). Besides the corporate investors, the Anglican Church has been “gifted” shares in Eleuthera Properties Ltd, while the estates of the late John Morley and Billy Lowe were also among the shareholders.

Eleuthera links to the investors are through the estates of the late Albert Sands and Whitfield Kemp. Another Eleuthera shareholder is businessman Lawrence Griffin from Governor’s Harbour, while Sir Orville Turnquest, the former governor-general, and his family - long-time investment and business partners of Sir Franklyn - are also invested. Tommy Turnquest, Sir Orville’s son and the former MP and Cabinet minister, is Jack’s Bay’s deputy chairman and chief executive.