By LEDEDRA MARCHE

Senior FN Reporter

World Investment Holdings (WIH), the intended buyers of the defunct Royal Oasis Resort represented by Chair-man Keith St. Clair told corporate Grand Bahama yesterday of its plans to reopen the resort property.

Hopeful to close the deal before the end of November and to be open for business in May 2007, St. Clair revealed that they intend to invest $100 million into the first phase of renovation which is expected to take six to eight months.

"It may only be the tower, the water park and the casino, but that's still 336 rooms that are not being operated today," he said.

The WIH executive was a guest speaker at the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce monthly business luncheon meeting at Ruby Swiss Restaurant.

WIH signed a $40 million deal with Lehman Brothers – the mortgagees of the resort – back in August for the Crowne Plaza Golf Resort and Casino at the Royal Oasis.

The property has been closed since September 2004.

The corporation and its investors have been the subject of much talk over the last couple of months.

St. Clair also said that there has been "some interesting press" recently about the company, adding however, that there are a group of people present who have spent millions of their own cash to get the property running again.

"And I get very distressed when I see things in the press about our motives, our ability and our capability," he said. "We are here today and I'm standing up in front of you because I have a great group of people who've put their money on the line to help regenerate your economy."

He recognized some of the investors with him yesterday – Albert Rodriguez, the largest government constructor in ground works in Florida; Seyed Moghani, a hotelier; and Bahamian attorney Jethro Miller, vice president of

World Investment Holdings Bahamas.

Clearing the air about WIH investors, the chairman said, "Every single person in our investment group, every single person in our team has been thoroughly cleared by the police, by criminal, by bankruptcy, by everything."

St. Clair admitted the deal has been very complicated to put together and that WIH investors decided to stay completely under the radar until they were ready to give the public some good news.

"And I think hopefully what you're hearing today is good news – good people, honest people, a genuine desire to work with the community and a genuine desire to drive and help generate the economy," he stated.

He told over 100 members of the business community that theirs was a simple philosophy – build a resort that will have an identity, global reach and ensure that the International Bazaar can grow again.

"If we get this going again – with 2,000 units and 4,000 guests staying on resort – we get the casino up and running again, we're going to have a chance to make something special here.

WIH has a commitment from a bank as its senior debt lender as well as a commitment from Intercontinental Hotel to be the operator of the main hotel, he said.

St. Clair revealed that WIH also has a commitment from the owners who formed the Ritz Carlton for 30 years to put a new brand hotel and manage it on its beach parcel to be called the Hemmingway hotel.

As for the stage of the project, he said WIH has been through the appraisal process, finished the initial property redevelopment master plan, the renovation and construction estimates and performed the construction scope of work.

Additionally, he said, WIH has prudently positioned with partners in The Bahamas a bond with the FirstCarbbean International Bank, enough to ensure that they finish $100 million worth of construction.

According to St. Clair, WIH has also managed to secure property and casualty insurance for the property which includes 427.5 acres of land, two golf courses, a casino and an international resort.

WIH is also committed to bring their other businesses here including an airline company called Ocean Blue which owns a sea plane business.

"We've committed to government that our aviation business will come to The Bahamas, will headquarter in The Bahamas and will start to provide services that hitherto are not provided," he said.

WIH, he said, has also committed to pay in excess of $1 million to help repay the displaced workers of the resort in addition to what the government has committed to pay.

"I would think that whenever we close on the property that will happen very quickly after the closing," he said.

As for the class action suit against the present owners of the resort by the 4,000 timeshare owners, St. Clair disclosed they are talking to the attorneys on the class action in the United States and looking at how the time share owners can be accommodated in the new plan.