The Tribune

By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

Grand Bahama’s Chamber of Commerce president yesterday said he is optimistic that PharmaChem Technologies’ plant will “rise again” as the company now begins its winding-up

James Carey conceded that the pharmaceutical manufacturer’s closure represents “a step back” for Grand Bahama’s economy but voiced hope that its owners will be able to restructure and re-establish their operation following the present entity’s liquidation.

Given that the PharmaChem facility recently underwent a $400m expansion, he added that its principals - including entrepreneur Pietro Stefanutti - may find it difficult to “walk away” from a business that they made such a large investment into.

“Freeport seems to go from crisis to crisis almost,” Mr Carey said. “At the end of last year, I was feeling very optimistic about Grand Bahama. Business seemed to be up, there seemed to be more positivity in the air and PharmaChem is a step back.

“But the Grand Bahama business community and the population is very resilient. We don’t know the final outcome, but I’m hoping that there is a possibility of a future for PharmaChem because they have spent a tremendous amount of money recently, and it’s difficult to imagine that they will simply walk away from such a substantial investment.

“I’m hoping that something will happen with that plant, and it will certainly rise again in the near term. We’ve seen places, not so much in The Bahamas but particularly the United States, go into bankruptcy and rise again fairly shortly thereafter, so I’m hoping that that would be the lot for PharmaChem going forward,” Mr Carey added.

“I’ve not heard any reports of governmental issues with PharmaChem, so it’s all something going wrong with the business itself it appears. Let’s hope it can rise again.” The Bahamas, though, does not have the US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection laws that allow companies to restructure while protected from their creditors and then re-emerge.

Mr Carey, meanwhile, said other international drug manufacturers may be interested in purchasing the plant so it may not be out of operation permanently. He added: “Surely, having invested hundreds of millions, and the previous plant certainly had to be worth hundreds of millions as well, there has to be a way to revive that plant for some other purpose.”

Howard Thompson, the Government’s director of labour, told Tribune Business that PharmaChem has given a “number” of now-former employees their severance packages and the Department of Labour is working to redeploy the impacted workers.

He said: “Any number of them have gotten their redundancy packages. PharmaChem has lived up to their obligation, and my department is actively trying to help redeploy those particular employees that we can replace with suitable jobs”