While pledging to continue to fight the "ill-advised" petition for the winding up of Baha Mar, developer Sarkis Izmirlian said yesterday in a statement that he wants to work with Prime Minister Perry Christie to "rapidly" open the resort, which has been shuttered for 10 months.

Izmirlian sent the statement to the media the same day he sent a letter to the Export-Import (CEXIM) Bank of China.

In the letter, he asserted that his team has the "best chance" of opening Baha Mar "quickly and successfully" and encouraged the bank to accept his offer.

He added that the current sale process that was launched by the receivers is "fraught with obstacles and irregularities".

The letter, which was a follow-up to the offer that Izmirlian made to CEXIM Bank in January, sought clarification on why the proposal was not acceptable.

Baha Mar," Izmirlian said.

"...With our offer, there is no reason to allow the property to continue to linger, to become further distressed, to incur further layoffs of capable team members needed to open Baha Mar, and to delay the re-employment of so many well-trained Bahamians.

"Without a doubt, my team and I have the best chance of opening Baha Mar quickly and successfully for the benefit of the Bahamian people, CEXIM Bank and the stakeholders of Baha Mar.

"I have maintained since last year the former senior management team of Baha Mar at a significant cost, and we are unequivocally committed to making an opened Baha Mar a truly Bahamian-driven business success for the direct benefit of Bahamians both economically and in terms of quality of life."

Although he didn't provide details of his offer, Izmirlian said, "Our goal in structuring the offer was to make sure that CEXIM would not be required to take a discount, or haircut on its debt, which we have been told repeatedly is an important goal of the bank.

"Also of great importance is the fact that our offer ensures payments to unsecured creditors, including those many suffering in The Bahamas."

Christie said on Sunday that he hopes that CEXIM moves quickly to identify a new owner.

"The urgency for us is to get the bank to announce a new purchaser and in that regard, I've even had discussions with Sarkis Izmirlian, who is in fact also concerning himself with having the bank consider the application he has made," Christie said.

"The challenge for the country is to get the bank to move more quickly."

In his statement, Izmirlian said it is unfortunate what has happened to Baha Mar but maintained, "all of this is correctable".

"We want former Baha Mar employees to be able to be back at work," he said.

"While we will continue to fight the ill-advised winding up/liquidation through the courts, following a positive meeting last week with Prime Minister Perry G. Christie, we hope to work with him towards our shared goal of opening Baha Mar rapidly and successfully for the benefit of all Bahamians, especially our highly trained Baha Mar team members.

"They are colleagues in whom we have the highest confidence to make Baha Mar into a leading international destination resort. We are prepared to move forward immediately with CEXIM Bank on our offer. Time is of the essence."

He added: "There is no other potential owner, other than us, who has the expertise, capabilities and commitment to move quickly to get this project opened and running in a manner to make The Bahamas proud."

Baha Mar filed for bankruptcy in the United States on June 29, 2015. The bankruptcy claim in the U.S. has since been dismissed.

Baha Mar is currently in receivership.

Krystel Rolle-Brown

Guardian Staff Reporter

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