New Completion Dates in the Caribbean

15 April 2008

Further to the news release last week regarding the announcement of the hotel operator for Buccament Bay in St. Vincent and Two Rivers in the Dominican Republic, we have just received the below further information from the Developer.

Dear Investor

We are delighted to announce that on Friday 4th April we have signed an agreement with world class hotel company OASIS HOTELS & RESORTS to manage the Buccament Bay Beach Resort in St Vincent & The Grenadines and the Two Rivers Beach Resort in the Dominican Republic. By signing with Oasis Hotels & Resorts, we have affiliated ourselves with a major player in the tourism industry worldwide. With its airline, hotels, travel agents and tour operators the Globalia Corporation offers us the advantages of a global network to ensure that our resorts will have maximum occupancy and accessibility via its airline and affiliations.As a result of this announcement the value of the Buccament Bay Beach Resort and the Two Rivers Beach Resort will soar, so we will increase the prices of all properties in these resorts from late May 2008. At the beginning of May the new brochure for the Buccament Bay Beach Resort will be available. The brochure has been designed to illustrate how stunning and well-equipped the resort will be.

Buccament Bay Beach Resort - Revised Completion Date: Summer 2010

The build at Buccament Bay is progressing well - 60% of the accommodation is built, the beach has been covered with white sand imported from British Guyana and the landscaping and planting of the beach front accommodation is well underway. However after discussions with Oasis Hotels & Resorts we will be opening the resort as a whole rather than in phases and we have delayed the opening date in order to ensure maximum benefit from advertising the resort to ensure high occupancy.

Two Rivers Beach Resort - Revised Completion Date: Summer 2011

We are pleased to say that we have already sold over 90% of the properties at the Two Rivers Beach Resort. Being our first major development in the Dominican Republic we are impressed by the huge interest in the Dominican Republic as a holiday destination. The planning process for the resort is progressing well and from our regular meetings with officials from the Government we are expecting to start the first phase of the build in the very near future. The on site sales & marketing suite will be completed soon and will be staffed 7 days a week so there will be someone available to welcome visitors and show them around the site.

OTHER UPDATES:

The Merricks Beach Resort - Estimated Completion Date: Christmas 2012

We met with senior Government officials last week and hope to have planning permission granted to start the build of The Merricks very soon. The new Prime Minister, David Thompson, in power since January 2008, has expressed his support of the new build of 5 star luxury hotels in Barbados as there is a shortage of this level of accommodation on the island. The onsite sales & marketing suite will be completed by the end of 2008.

Simon Ryeland, Managing Director of Principal International, comments,

“We understand the frustrations with the delay in progress of this resort but investors can rest assured that this is still one of the best investment opportunities in the Caribbean, particularly in consideration that there is now a greater need for a new 5 star hotel than two years ago.

Having given the matter some thought, we felt it was most appropriate to simply ‘cut and paste’ the content of their notification to us, so that you can see precisely what they have communicated to their agent network.

Whilst, as investors ourselves, we can understand clients possibly being disappointed about the delays that will be experienced in completing these projects, we always recognised it would be inevitable that the appointed hotel operator would want to have an immediate close look at the projects and have some form of input into the building project timing and handover dates. For all of us as investors, it is vital that the launch of each development is as successful as possible, as it will set the scene for the reputation that resort earns and therefore the level of occupancy it enjoys over the medium to long term; as we all know, increased occupancy equates to increased investment yield.

For those clients who have purchased property in these projects, there will be some increased interest costs from stage payments and also, if applicable, from the use of the 100% finance option; however, the delay in completion will have the benefit of allowing the capital value of your property to appreciate further. This appreciation will, in turn allow you to, if you so choose, release more equity from the 70% Loan to Value mortgage you take at completion.

Please feel free to call either myself or one of my team (on 0800 038 0000 / +44 1483 748629 / contact) if you want to discuss these projects or any other investment projects in more detail.”

As and when we receive any further news about the Caribbean developments, we will of course keep you fully posted.