Freeport, Grand Bahama - Due to a recent substantial supreme court judgment
against
Water World Enterprises Ltd., the local operator of the Bowling alley on
East
Sunrise Blvd. was forced to close its operation to prevent further
losses.
In January 2009 Mr. Peter von Albedyhll
came to an agreement
with the Royal Bank
of Canada to
assume an unpaid loan balance of Water World Enterprises Ltd. in order
to
prevent foreclose and subsequent closure of the bowling operation and to
further
secure his own personal loans he had granted Mr. David Willard – the
previous
operator of Water World – to build the bowling alley and to secure in
the
property.
This agreement was subject to Mr.
Willard revealing all open
debt of the company prior to Mr. von Albedyhll paying off all company
debts
including – among many others - about $ 30,000 in unpaid National
insurance
deductions since 2005
which were collected
by Mr. Willard, but never paid to the National Insurance Board.
After assuming the operation it also became clear
that Mr.
Willard also had not provided accurate prior operating cost data as the
operation was never able to operate profitably and required monthly cash
infusions from Mr. von Albedyhll in order to meet its payroll. In
addition, the
high cost of energy did not allow the operation to be profitable, since
as much
as 40% of the income had to be paid towards utilities.
In late February,
Water World
Enterprises Ltd. was served with a court order
for about $ 200,000, payable to an American lender who had personally
loaned
Mr. & Mrs. Willard an amount of $ 247,000 back in 2003 - whereby the
Willard’s signed for this loan on behalf of Water World Enterprises Ltd.
Since the Willard’s failed to pay back
the majority of the loan, the lender subsequently obtained a court order
against
Water World Enterprises Ltd.
as
being the borrower of record.
Upon learning of
this company liability, Mr. von Albedyhll
filed fraud charges against Mr. David Willard for knowingly not
disclosing this
liability and possibly others - not yet known.
As
a result , Mr. von Albedyhll – on advice of counsel – is
now forced to liquidate the company, as he is not willing to assume
further
undisclosed liabilities of Mr. & Mrs. Willard in addition to the
operating
losses.
There are currently negotiations with
other potential
investors to purchase the facilities and re-open the center under new
management in a short period of time.
