Billionaire’s property firm resolves dispute with Chinese contractor

The Baha Mar resort in Nassau. Photo: Adobe Stock

BML Properties, a property company owned by billionaire Sarkis Izmirlian, filed a motion in US Bankruptcy Court earlier this year seeking the appointment of an Examiner to investigate an indirect subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering (CSCEC), called China Construction America (CCA).

CCA filed for US bankruptcy protection in December 2024 after a Supreme Court judge in the State of New York ordered it to pay $1.6 billion to BML in a long-running legal dispute centring around construction delays on the luxury Baha Mar resort in Nassau.

BML Properties collapsed in 2015 after a delay in opening the resort and launched legal proceedings in in 2017.

Following an 11-day trial in 2024, Justice Andrew Borrok found that CCAB had deliberately slowed down work on the project, working against the best interests of BML Properties.

CCA Construction Inc appealed the ruling against it in New York.

But a representative of CCA Construction, CCA Bahamas, and CSCEC Bahamas said that the US Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey has approved a comprehensive agreement with BML Properties to resolve the legal dispute.

“We are pleased that the Court has approved this resolution, which enables us to focus exclusively on our strategy for delivering world-class construction projects and hospitality operations to our customers worldwide,” said Yan Wei, chairman & CEO of CCA. “We are grateful for the steadfast support of our customers, team and partners as we move forward to embrace future opportunities.”

As part of the agreement, BML Properties is dropping all claims in the US and the Bahamas against CCA, CCAB and CSCECB and their respective affiliates without any admission of liability on their part.

CCAB retains its ownership interest in the British Colonial and Margaritaville Beach Resort hotels.