Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey yesterday largely dismissed the chapter 11 case of Baha Mar Ltd., saying that he “perceived no greater good” would come from allowing the case to continue in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported today. Judge Carey said in his opinion that the bankruptcy filing of Baha Mar, which is the owner and developer of a stalled $3.5 billion resort in the Bahamas, “is truly an international case” and acknowledged the deep economic interest of the Bahamian government in the resort. At the crux of his decision, Judge Carey said, was a finding earlier this summer by Justice Ian Winder of the Supreme Court of the Bahamas that the project’s stakeholders expected that insolvency proceedings would take place in the Bahamas. Judge Carey said that he agreed and was dismissing the U.S. case for this reason. That reasoning didn’t, however, extend to one entity that Baha Mar had placed in bankruptcy, called Northshore Mainland Services Inc. This company is incorporated in Florida and manages U.S. operations. Creditors of that entity couldn’t have expected that it file for bankruptcy outside of the U.S., Judge Carey said, and permitted only that case to continue.
