Fwd: EXCLUSIVE: Caribbean casino lures Arab investors
This image is not a chart. The key information is:
- Event: Around 20 Arab investors have bought homes in a casino resort in The Bahamas.
- Investor Origin: Mainly from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
- Resort Location: The Bahamas.
- Resort Status: Currently the largest resort under development in the Western Hemisphere.
Around 20 Arab investors, mainly from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have bought homes in a casino resort in The Bahamas, which is currently the largest resort under development in the Western Hemisphere.
Baha Mar launched its residences this summer at the Qatar-owned Harrods department store in London's Knightsbridge. The centre piece will be the Baha Mar Casino & Hotel, a 9,000 sqm Las Vegas-style casino complex. With a total of 307 private freehold residences available for sale and prices starting from US$1.5m, a spokesperson said the Caribbean resort has proved popular with Arab buyers.
"Out of the 51 units already sold off plan at Baha Mar, 20 of them have been sold to Arabs buyers, mostly from Saudi Arabia and Qatar," a spokesperson from the company's sales office in London told Arabian Business.
"Many high net worth Arabs are seeking a haven due to the Arab Spring and the rental programme offered at Baha Mar allows buyers who rent their apartments back to Baha Mar to stay in participating hotels around the world for free, including ones in Saudi Arabia and Dubai," she added.
In addition to the casino and residences, Baha Mar will include a total of 2,200 hotel rooms, spread across four major hotel brands, 19,000 sqm of retail and entertainment space and an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course.
The US$3.5bn project, which is due for completion in 2014, has received US$2.45bn funding from the Export Import Bank of China.