BAHAMAS Law and Practice Contributed by: Michelle Neville-Clarke, Lethea Carey and Stan Burnside, Lennox Paton
Lennox Paton Lennox Paton 3 Bayside Executive Park West Bay Street & Blake Road N-4875 Nassau The Bahamas Tel: 242-502-5000 Email: ccollie@lennoxpaton.com Web: www.lennoxpaton.com
1. Trends 1.1 M&A Market
providing financial incentives to support investment activity. 1.2 Key Trends M&A activity in The Bahamas is driven by sector trends and incremental legislative modernisation. Notable activity has occurred in energy and utilities following the Electricity Act 2024, which has spurred infrastructure transactions, public–private partner - ships and power purchase agreements, while promot - ing renewable energy integration. The luxury property market also continues to expand. Legislative reforms, including the International Business Companies (Amendment) (No.2) Act 2023, introduced a statutory demerger regime enhancing structuring flexibility and the Movable Property Security Interests Act 2025 modernises secured financing. Established frame - works, such as the Segregated Accounts Companies Act, continue to support cross-border structures. Overall, the market evolves steadily, with regulatory approvals and exchange control considerations cen - tral to transactional planning. 1.3 Key Industries Primarily, the energy sector, the luxury real estate and resorts industries. However, there has been continued cross-border M&A involvement in financial services and investment structures, where Bahamian interna - tional business companies and segregated accounts companies are frequently utilised within multinational holding and financing arrangements. While these transactions are often driven by offshore considera - tions rather than domestic consolidation, the financial services sector remains a consistent contributor to deal activity. Additionally, there has been measured
The M&A market in The Bahamas has not undergone any fundamental structural transformation in the past 12 months, and the jurisdiction continues to operate without a comprehensive merger control or antitrust regime or a central competition authority reviewing transactions on competition grounds. As a result, the regulatory landscape for mergers and acquisitions remains largely sector-driven and dependent on the nature of the transaction and the parties involved, with the overall framework broadly consistent with that of the previous year. Recent legislative developments, however, have enhanced transactional flexibility. The International Business Companies (Amendment) (No 2) Act, 2023, introduced a statutory demerger regime for companies incorporated under the IBC Act, facilitating corporate spin-offs and pre-sale reorganisations and aligning The Bahamas more closely with other offshore juris - dictions. The Segregated Accounts Companies Act, 2025, has also come into force, replacing the 2004 legislation while expanding restructuring options, product offerings and asset protection features for segregated accounts companies. In addition, the Movable Property Security Interests Act, 2025, once enacted, is expected to modernise the secured trans - actions framework by introducing a centralised col - lateral registry, thereby improving certainty in acqui - sition financing. Finally, the Business Development Incentives Programme Act, 2025, aims to strengthen The Bahamas’ competitiveness as a business hub by
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