The stalled Baha Mar mega-resort in Nassau, Bahamas, has been placed into
receivership, according to the provisional liquidators appointed by the Bahamas
Supreme Court.
Deloitte has been appointed as receiver by Export-Import
Bank of China, the project’s lender, according to a statement by liquidators
KRyS Global and AlixPartners.
"Our role now is to work closely with Deloitte as the bank's
appointed receivers with a view to exploring and deciding on the most
appropriate strategic option in order to see the resort completed and open for
business," AlixPartners’ Alastair Beveridge and KRyS Global’s Edmund
Rahming said in the statement.
The appointment of Deloitte as receiver suggests that
developer Baha Mar Ltd. is unlikely to retain control over the resort. The
developer late last month laid off 2,000 employees after principal Sarkis
Izmirlian said there was “simply no way for Baha Mar to sustain the thousands
of jobs.”
A Baha Mar spokesman declined to comment. Representatives
with the Bahamas government didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment
from Travel Weekly on Friday.
The five-hotel Baha Mar resort was originally scheduled to
open late last year.