Investment group TXO (LON:TXO) has increased its stake in one of the companies redeveloping Freeport in Grand Bahama.

TXO now owns 35.7% of Grand Bahama Group (GBG) following the acquisition of a further 100 shares for £700,000. Its stake previously was 30.2%

Freeport is the only port in the vicinity of the Eastern Seaboard of the US capable of taking the post-Panamax ships that will be coming through the widened Panama canal in 2015.

GBG aims to build a hydrocarbon recovery plant to extract heavy fuel oil from waste oils removed from vessels.

This is an excerpt from Proactive Investors as it appeared on March 5, 2014. For updates or to read the current version of this post in its entirety, please click here.

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A panel of travel professionals has recognized the locally produced Baha Mar Dream Team campaign as the gold winner of Travel Weekly magazine’s Magellan Award, beating international competition in the Hotels and Resorts category.

The Baha Mar Dream Team multi-media campaign involved press releases, interviews and videos featuring some of the key personnel on the multi-billion dollar resort’s staff.

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Pictured: Sarah St. George, Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) Vice Chairman speaking at the Grand Bahama Business Outlook in Freeport, Grand Bahama. (Photo Harry Cutting/©Dupuch)

The phase five expansion of the Freeport Container Port is “imminent”, according to vice chairman of the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) Sarah St George, who added that the project is being timed to co-incide with the 2015 expansion of the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal is expected to double its capacity when its expansion is completed next year. Freeport’s maritime industry is predicting a huge boost in business from this project and St George says the phase five expansion of the city’s container port will allow it to process up to 2 million TEUs a year and create 200 jobs over two years.

“The shipping business is shaping up to be something we have never seen before,” she told attendees at the Grand Bahama Business Outlook in Freeport last week.

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS (PRWEB) – John Cox, recently named Creative Artistic Director for Baha Mar, the $3.5 billion luxury resort fast rising in Nassau, The Bahamas, will be an exhibitor at Volta NY 2014, March 6-9.

Volta NY is an invitational show of emerging solo artists’ work. It is the American incarnation of Volta Basel in Switzerland conceived in 2008 by European-born co-founder Amanda Coulson, as a place of discovery and exploration of contemporary art as presented by participating galleries. Cox’s 2013 work, “Filler,” is presented by Popupstudios of Nassau, a gallery space for local Bahamian artists created by Cox and the first-ever gallery from the Caribbean to participate in an international art fair.

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Pictured: Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce President Barry Malcolm speaking at the Grand Bahama Business Outlook in Freeport, Grand Bahama. (Photo Harry Cutting/©Dupuch)

As the 1955 Hawksbill Creek Agreement (HCA) approaches its 60th anniversary, Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce President Barry Malcolm has spoken of its importance and the business community’s hope that it will continue to bolster Freeport’s economy once certain concessions are re-negotiated.

Certain provisions in the landmark agreement expire in 2015. Speaking at the Grand Bahama Business Outlook in Freeport last week, Malcolm said there needed to be a consensus between the government, the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) and the private sector as key provisions are re-examined.

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Minister for Grand Bahama Dr Michael Darville officially welcomed to Grand Bahama Claudio Bisogniero, Non-Resident Ambassador of Italy to The Bahamas, February 20.

Ambassador Bisogniero is based in Washington DC. He was accompanied during his visit to the Ministry of Grand Bahama by Emanuele Gariboldi, Italy’s Honorary Consul General in The Bahamas, who resides in Grand Bahama.

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The Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry for Grand Bahama have forged a good working relationship, designed to further the growth and development of Grand Bahama, according to officials.

Chamber executives, including president Barry Malcolm, first vice president Leigh Tarmath, and director Kevin Seymour, met with Minister for Grand Bahama Dr Michael Darville February 24 to discuss Grand Bahama’s future.

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Commonwealth Bank has reopened one of its branches on New Providence following a refurbishment after a fire last year.
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Andre Miller of the Bahamas Tourism Office in Plantation, Florida, says that the Ministry of Tourism is using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube to promote the jurisdiction.
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Pictured: John Rolle, Financial Secretary in the Ministry of Finance speaking at the Grand Bahama Business Outlook held at the Grand Lucayan Beach & Golf Resort in Freeport, Grand Bahama on 27 February 2014. (Photo Harry Cutting/©Dupuch)

The government is preparing to publish guidelines on the application of value added tax (VAT), as it gears up for comprehensive reform of The Bahamas’ tax system.

Addressing attendees at the Grand Bahama Business Outlook today, financial secretary John Rolle (left) announced that the guidelines would be made available to the public “within the next couple of weeks.”

“Time is not on our side, there has to be an intensification of this process. The government has to show continued movement,” he added.

The government hopes to introduce VAT by July 2014 in a bid to reduce debt and improve revenue. Rolle said reform was “desperately needed” to address a $500-million shortfall in the government’s budget.

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