By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The takeover battle at Old Bahama Bay is poised to reignite after the necessary government licence was issued on Friday to the corporate vehicle seeking to assume the resort’s management.

Daniel Baker, a representative for Lubert Adler-Old Bahama Bay (LRA-OBB), which owns the resort, told Tribune Business that the long-awaited permit has now been received and it is “co-ordinating with our team to implement the remaining transition” elements that will see an affiliate take back responsibility for operating amenities such as the marina and restaurants.

Any such move, though, threatens to trigger a new fight - and likely legal battle - with Island Ventures Resort and Club (IVRC), the entity formed by the 73 condo owners to keep the hotel open following Ginn’s 2011 default. 

John MacDonald, IVRC’s president, told this newspaper its position remains that it will resist LRA-OBB’s efforts to reclaim Old Bahama Bay’s management absent an eviction notice from the Bahamian courts. And he challenged whether the Government would approve a licence for an entity it has previously told to “cease and desist” while also rejecting its bid to purchase the Grand Bahama resort.

That was a reference to a March 21, 2025, letter by Phylicia Woods-Hanna, the Government’s director of investments, who asserted that Kingwood International Resorts and its affiliates will “violate” Bahamian law if they assume management of both Old Bahama Bay and the former Ginn sur mer project given that the Davis administration has twice rejected the company’s application to conduct business in this nation.

Mr Baker previously denied allegations that Kingwood was involved in the management takeover bid, although there are concerns it is hiding behind LRA-OBB’s corporate identity. He told this newspaper on Friday that the licence is being issued to the former OBB Hospitality, which is in the process of being renamed Sur Mer Club.

Reassuring that the ‘Old Bahama Bay’ name and brand will be used in all marketing and promotional efforts moving forward, given the ‘Sur Mer’ link to the former failed Ginn development of the same name, he added that a final effort will be made to yet again “extend an olive branch to IVRC” in a bid to achieve a harmonious management transition rather than a battle - whether protracted or short-lived.

“We went over to Nassau this [last] week and had some meetings. One of the results was that we received our licence this morning, so we are co-ordinating with our team to implement the transition,” Mr Baker told Tribune Business. “We’ve made progress. We’re waiting and hopeful. They just needed some clarity on some items, and we were able to achieve that through discussion.

“It’s all very good. We’re excited. We’ve been watching the clock.” LRA-OBB’s management takeover had been stalled for over a month until the licence, understood to have been issued by the Department of Inland Revenue, was issued on Friday. 

It had originally given IVRC notice to vacate by March 28, 2025. However, the first delay occurred while it waited for the Department of Labour to confirm in writing that IVRC - and not itself or its affiliates - would be responsible for paying the former’s staff due termination pay and other benefits up to the day of the takeover.

That confirmation is understood to have never been provided. Then a further delay occurred after the Government required both OBB Hospitality/Sur Mer Club and the entity operated by Don Churchill, who LRA-OBB wanted to takeover and lead Old Bahama Bay’s management, to obtain licences from itself.

Mr Churchill’s company is understood to be licensed by the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA), but the Government insisted that it obtain a licence from itself because Old Bahama Bay is outside the Port area. Now, with licences in hand, Mr Baker told Tribune Business that one final attempt will be made to achieve a harmonious transition with IVRC.

“It’s been disappointing that we extended an olive branch to IVRC previously for a harmonious transition, and it was not met with greetings; it was met with silence and non-cooperation,” he added. “We’ll make one final approach.... It doesn’t have to be dictating; it can be respectful and we’re hoping that happens.

“We believed that we had the necessary documentation to take over on March 28, but given the Department of Labour and request for us to delay things while they looked into the matter, we feel having our own licence in hand reinforces and confirms the correctness and integrity of what we are doing.

“A month of waiting for this process, and now this has happened there should be little if any question about” the takeover proceeding. Mr MacDonald, though, signalled that IVRC is in no mood to compromise and plans to stand its ground.

“We haven’t heard anything yet,” he told Tribune Business. “That ‘cease and desist’ was pretty clear. We don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. I certainly don’t believe the Government will change their minds on someone who was not approved to operate in The Bahamas. They can call themselves whatever they want, but it’s still the same people.”

The ‘LRA’ in LRA-OBB stands for Lubert Adler, the investment bank that was Ginn’s former financing partner, and which took over the West End development’s core property and Old Bahama Bay after the developer defaulted some 14 years ago.

It has been seeking a buyer, and exit route, for some time, and Tribune Business previously reported it had done an offshore deal with Kingwood where the latter’s principals took control of LRA-OBB and other affiliates. This newspaper saw documents showing Lubert Adler executives resigned en masse from their positions as officers and directors with a variety of Ginn-related companies on August 3, 2022.

They were purportedly replaced by Kingwood executives, but a package circulated to Old Bahama Bay condo owners purporting to include LRA-OBB’s latest corporate filings dated March 10, 2025, showed the Bahamian-domiciled entity’s Board as still being comprised of Lubert Adler executives.

However, recently-published promotional material named Kingwood as the entity that will be taking over Old Bahama Bay’s management and operations on LRA-OBB’s behalf. Mr Baker, meanwhile, confirmed that various inspections had been conducted at Old Bahama Bay by government agencies, such as the Ministry of Works and Ministry of Health, as part of the licensing procedure.

“There have been inspections,” he said. “We were a little bit surprised by those inspections, given that it was an existing operating resort and that we’re not yet running things. It turned out that there was some miscommunication about our licence. People at the ministry thought it was a brand new licence. There was some miscommunication that happened.

“We certainly want to know if anything is amiss or not right, and that persons up to this point responsible have taken care of the property and that things are correct from day one when we assume operations. We didn’t object to the inspections; we didn’t think they should be a condition for issuing the licence. We were happy for them to look at the property and see if things were not right.”

Mr MacDonald, though, said of the inspections: “I know somebody came and then they left. I don’t know what transpired there. Why would they even come out to do an inspection when a current licensed company is there and not going to give up their licence to anyone. Our manager said we’re operating here; what’s going on? They [LRA-OBB] didn’t start a court action [eviction] yet so we’ll see what’s going on.”