Welcome to The Bay Street Brief!

Tomorrow (May 12th) is Election Day. If you are registered, go vote. We couldn’t care less who you vote for, just that you participate in the process!

Anyways. Big week for Bahamian business. Half a billion dollars in energy deals, a 70-year-old name leaving Inagua, and a quick brief on the latest virus outbreak.

Let's get into it.

If your light ever cut off and you had to light candles around the house, you gotta check this deal out.

FOCOL Holdings signed a $500 million agreement this week with US-based engineering firm Turner Industries to build the New Providence LNG Gas Terminal. It is a major bet on a cleaner, cheaper energy future for this country, and if it delivers, it could change what your electricity bill looks like for a generation.

First, what is LNG?

LNG stands for liquefied natural gas. It is natural gas cooled to extremely low temperatures until it becomes liquid, making it easy to ship across long distances. Once it arrives, it gets converted back into gas and fed into power generation equipment. It burns cleaner than oil and costs significantly less, which is why most of the developed world moved toward it decades ago. The Bahamas has been running on diesel and heavy fuel oil. These fuels are dirtier, more expensive, and harder on equipment, contributing to higher electricity bills, more maintenance, and the power outages Bahamians know too well.

What is actually being built?

The terminal will have two main components. On the water, a floating platform connects to shore to receive LNG deliveries from Shell tankers. On land, storage tanks and regasification equipment convert the liquid back into gas and send it to power turbines feeding both BPL's grid and FOCOL's generation facilities at Clifton Pier. The long-term goal is for the terminal to cover BPL's entire base load, the foundation of Nassau's electricity supply that runs around the clock.

This project has been in the works since March 2025, when it was first announced as a joint venture between FOCOL and Shell. The contract signing with Turner Industries this week moves it from announcement to construction reality. Turner's CEO confirmed that Bahamians will be trained throughout the build to maintain the facility long after his company leaves.

Before we go and get too excited.

A project this size does not guarantee lower bills overnight. Infrastructure takes time to build, contracts take time to settle, and BPL's challenges run deeper than just fuel costs. But the fuel itself is a real and significant part of the problem. Electricity is one of the biggest contributors to the high cost of living in The Bahamas. When businesses pay less to keep the lights on, that eventually works its way into the price of everything else.

Switching the islands base load generation to a cheaper energy source is the kind of structural change that actually moves the needle.

If you live on Great Inagua, this is not a surprise. Ownership changes at the salt plant have become, as the union rep put it last year, "the norm."

But this time there is something different. For the first time in 70 years, the Morton name is leaving the island.

Here's what's happening. Lusca Group, a Bahamas and Europe-based industrial investment company, has received all regulatory approvals to acquire Morton Bahamas Limited, the salt facility that is the economic backbone of Great Inagua. The deal closes June 1st. The operation gets renamed Lusca Salt Bahamas Limited and marketed internationally under the "Bahamas Salt" brand.

But first, let me learn you something.

Salt has been part of Inagua since Bermudian settlers arrived in 1803. Three American brothers called the Ericksons mechanised the operation in the late 1930s, then sold it to Morton Salt of Chicago in 1954. Morton ran it for decades and built it into the second largest solar salt operation in North America.

Then the corporate carousel started. Rohm and Haas bought Morton in 1999. German company K+S acquired it in 2009 for $1.7 billion. In 2021, an American holding company called Stone Canyon bought the whole Morton Salt business for $3.2 billion. Stone Canyon is now the seller to Lusca.

Every time ownership changed, the Morton name stayed. This time it does not.

Back to the present.

Lusca is promising up to $125 million in investment covering the salt facility itself, a solar power plant, airport modernisation, and community infrastructure upgrades. They also want to study producing food-grade salt on the island, which would mean Inagua exports finished product instead of raw bulk salt. That would be a genuine economic shift for the island.

Prime Minister Davis visited last week and told residents that workers' jobs are protected.

That is good news. But it is worth noting that Morton announced job cuts and reduced employee benefits just last month, before the deal closed. And Inaguans have lived through enough ownership changes to know that big promises and big outcomes are not always the same thing.

Before you decide the fate of our nation on Tuesday… how about you answer this BGCSE level math question:

Tony needs to figure out the weight of his two potcakes, Brownie and Blackie. However, neither dog will sit on the scale by itself. Tony, Brownie and Blackie altogether weigh 175 pounds. Tony and Brownie together weigh 143 pounds. Tony and Blackie together weigh 139 pounds.

How much does Brownie weigh?

Check the bottom of the newsletter for the answer.

🏛️Family Guardian is buying a 20% stake in fellow BISX-listed insurer Bahamas First, with the deal expected to close as early as next week. The seller is Definity, a Canadian insurer that has been trying to offload its Bahamian investment since at least 2023. Family Guardian had a healthy $81.9 million in retained earnings heading into this deal, so the financial firepower was there. If the deal closes, Family Guardian representatives will take over Definity's seats on the Bahamas First board.

🏠 Getting a Mortgage Is Still Really Hard. Overall lending improved in the second half of 2025, but mortgages didn't get the memo. Only half of all applications were approved, with new construction loans clearing at just 34.8 percent and renovation loans at 6.2 percent. Meanwhile consumer loans sailed through at 86.7 percent. Bahamians can borrow money for almost anything except the things that build actual wealth.

🌡️ It's Hot. Like, Really Hot. The Department of Meteorology has issued a heat health bulletin warning that heat index values could reach 108°F across all islands early this week. That's what the temperature feels like on your body once humidity is factored in. Stay hydrated, limit time in direct sunlight, and if you're heading out to vote tomorrow, bring water.

🌀 Hurricane Season Starts June 1st. Colorado State is forecasting a below-average season, 13 named storms and two major hurricanes, thanks to El Niño suppressing activity. The Bahamas sits on the fringe of that suppression though, and the Atlantic is running warmer than usual, which means any storm that does form could strengthen fast. Below-average season or not, it only takes one.

🌍 Oil prices jumped after President Trump rejected Iran's peace proposal with a two-word Truth Social post: "TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE." With shipping through the Strait of Hormuz still disrupted, markets are on edge. The narrow waterway normally handles about 20% of the world's oil supply.

🎓 The University of the West Indies is cutting its last formal tie to the British monarchy and placing itself under CARICOM's legal framework instead. In plain terms, the King of England currently has the legal power to dissolve UWI with a single decision. That ends with this move.

💻 Hackers Took Down Canvas During Exam Season. A hacking group called ShinyHunters breached Instructure, the company behind Canvas, the academic software used by an estimated 9,000 universities and schools worldwide. Students mid-exam watched ransom notes appear on their screens demanding bitcoin payment. Several universities cancelled or postponed finals. If you know someone studying abroad right now, they may have been affected.

🕊️ Putin Says the War Is "Coming to an End" Speaking after Russia's Victory Day parade on Saturday, Putin said he believes the Ukraine conflict is winding down. A US-brokered three-day ceasefire is currently in effect and both sides agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners. Analysts are cautious though, noting Putin has hinted at peace before and delivered nothing.

In their final days, Spirit Airlines explored every option to keep the planes flying. Acquisitions. Mergers. Even a deal with the White House.

But you know what they didn’t try? Advertising with The Bay Street Brief.

Your brand could be here. Unlike Spirit, you still have time. Reply to this email to advertise with The Bay Street Brief. 🇧🇸

A virus is making international headlines and, given our cruise ship traffic, we have good reason to follow this closely.

Here's what happened. In early April, a Dutch-flagged cruise ship called the MV Hondius departed from Ushuaia, Argentina on a trip to Antarctica and several remote South Atlantic islands. Passengers started getting sick before the ship reached open water. Three people have since died and several others remain critically ill.

The culprit is the Andes strain of hantavirus. What makes it unusual is this: it is the only strain of hantavirus known to spread from person to person. Every other strain requires direct contact with infected rodents or their droppings. This one, in rare cases, does not.

Before you start spiraling: the WHO has been firm that this is not another COVID situation. Spreading it requires close, prolonged contact with a sick person. Think living together or caring for someone who is ill, not passing them on the fry.

So why are we watching?

By the time the outbreak was identified, 34 passengers had already disembarked and travelled to different countries. Tracing all of them is a real challenge. With the volume of cruise traffic moving through our ports every week, Bahamian health officials are understandably paying attention.

The local response is already on the move. The Ministry of Environment is stepping up rodent control and the government is increasing sanitation and public health surveillance. The Bahamas has actually dealt with rodent-borne illness before through leptospirosis, a similar virus spread the same way, so this is not entirely unfamiliar territory for our public health system.

The bottom line: No cases in The Bahamas. No reason to panic. No lockdown coming…(we just jinxed it didn’t we).

Brownie weighs 36 pounds.

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Until next time.

— The Bay Street Brief Team