By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

The opportunity for Bahamian investors to acquire an ownership interest in Royal Caribbean’s $110m Paradise Island project has been pushed back to early 2025, it was revealed yesterday.

Philip Simon, the cruise line’s top Bahamian executive, said the planned initial public offering (IPO) will not now take place in 2024 and has been delayed until the first quarter next year as details are still being finalised.

Mr Simon, who is president and general manager for both the Royal Beach Club project and Royal Caribbean International Bahamas, said of the IPO: “We are not [ready] for the third quarter of this year. That has been the latest, and so we are still looking to pursue that probably in the first quarter of next year.

“But it’s all preparation. We still have some ‘i’s’ to dot and some ‘t’s’ to cross, relative to the framework, relative to the structure and the partnership that we are doing with government. We want to make sure we get everything right so that when we come out to the public there will be no obstacles in our way.”

Royal Caribbean’s website for the Royal Beach Club still shows a timeline where the IPO is due to take place between August and December 2024, describing this as the “proposed window foe Bahamian equity raise” although it acknowledges that the dates and duration of the offering have yet to be determined.

The last proposal was for the cruise line to have a majority 51 percent ownership interest in the Royal Beach Club, with the remaining 49 percent equity stake to be split between the Government and Bahamian retail and institutional investors. The size of the Government’s interest was to be based on the value of the four Crown Land acres it was contributing to the project’s total 17 acres.

Once the value of this land was appraised, the size and value of the collective equity raise from Bahamian investors was to be determined. It was thought the IPO would take a similar form to the Nassau Cruise Port offering, where investors acquired shares in an investment/mutual fund that will own the collective local interest in the Royal Beach Club.

Mr Simon, meanwhile, speaking at a Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employer’s Confederation (BCCEC) event, said the Royal Beach Club’s bidding process to select Bahamian vendors is also expected to launch either before year-end or during the 2025 first quarter.

He added that the cruise line is committed to including small and micro-sized businesses in the request for proposal (RFP) process, and said: “There’s opportunity for participation with small and micro-sized businesses.

“We have to be creative in our approach and how we infuse them into the programming; into the RFP process. We want to do that. This is a journey none of us have done before, and so there’s some work to be done, but we’re really committed to that process as well.”

Mr Simon said the provider of ferry services, which will transport Royal Caribbean passengers across Nassau Harbour between Prince George Wharf and Paradise Island, has not been finalised yet. 

“We have been speaking with different providers. We do have some company in mind, and so it’s just a matter of advancing those conversations and those talks, and hopefully we’ll be in a position to make some announcements even in that regard,” he added.

“It’s just not the guest transportation. Obviously, our ferries will go out for staff transportation, vendor transportation. So, again, there are lots of opportunities. I encourage persons.... I mean, don’t wonder, just inquire. I’m certainly open to the conversations and questions that I can answer.”

Mr Simon said the Royal Beach Club will cater to on average about 2,500 guests per day, and denied that it will suck significant visitor numbers away from venturing into Downtown Nassau. He added that tourism and the cruise industry in The Bahamas is growing rapidly, and Bahamians should focus on providing more attractions and activities for the thousands of guests that disembark in Nassau daily.

“We will probably average around 2,500-plus guests per day,” he said. “It’s 17 acres. It’s not going to grow in size, but what is growing in size are the number of visitors that are going to be coming to our shores. Even with our line alone, by 2027 that’s going to be an additional 20m visitors that will be coming.

“More ships are in the pipeline, an increase in guest arrivals is in the pipeline. And so I would be more concerned with how are we going to address this as The Bahamas. Are we as Bahamians positioning ourselves? And it’s not just us, by the way. It’s the entire industry that will continue to grow over the upcoming years.

“What are the tours? What are the attractions from a municipality perspective? What are the upgrades that are being done in preparation? We talk about it all the time. The issue is not 2,500 people a day over at the Royal Beach Club; it’s, how are we going to address those hundreds of thousands of new guests that will be coming to our shores.”

Mr Simon declined to give an update on how Royal Caribbean’s Freeport Harbour deal, in partnership with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC )and ITM Group, is progressing but said the cruise line is “investigating all opportunities” throughout this nation.

“We are exploring and investigating all opportunities for the company, and that includes in Grand Bahama that includes throughout the Commonwealth of the Bahamas,” said Mr Simon “We recognise the importance of The Bahamas to the company, and vice versa. And so we are hopeful that some things can get done and we’ll be in a position to make some more announcements in the future.”