Butch, a likeable family man known to his associates as “an extremely smart and intelligent character”, relieved his father of running the business and implementing board strategies.
A media business analyst told The Tribune last night: “The Bahamas has lost its leading light in tourism. He was the man responsible for implementing the visions of himself and his father, Sol.
“There’s no two ways about it, he and his father have been responsible for putting the Bahamas back on the world tourism map. Without Atlantis and its success, a lot of the other foreign resort and investment projects would probably not be coming to the Bahamas.”
He added: “Had the Kerzners not come here during the 1990s, Nassau would almost certainly still be a sleepy economic backwater.”
He said Kerzner’s operations account for such a huge chunk of the Bahamian economy and GDP, “it’s almost frightening to think what the unemployment situation would be like without them.”
Initially, associates expect the impact on the business to be primarily psychological and emotional. But long-term, Butch’s death could be seen as having a significant effect on the business itself.
Although Kerzner International has a strong management structure in place, the loss leaves a big hole to be filled.
The tragedy comes at a crucial time in the Kerzner organisation because Butch and his father recently led a successful buy-out that took the company private and ended its New York Stock Exchange listing.
It was a $4 billion dollar deal which secured the Kerzners an estimated 25 per cent stake in the business.
Butch considered this to be important because it gave him and his father a greater share of the rewards from the risk they were taking in the company’s international expansion projects.
Apart from the Atlantis Phase Three expansion, Kerzner International is also developing the Atlantis, The Palm resort in Dubai in partnership with that nation’s government.
The company is also looking at casino projects in Morocco, UK and Singapore.
The analyst said: “Butch was seen as a young, dynamic visionary who did not rise to the top just because he was his father’s son.
“Sol Kerzner saw him as the man to take the company forward and the heir apparent.
He was happy to leave the everyday business in his hands because he knew he was a young man of sound judgment.”
Business people in the Bahamas felt that Butch inherited his father’s remarkable entrepreneurial flair. An associate said: “He was a very pleasant, down-to-earth guy whose manner belied his great wealth. He obviously had tremendous ability, but he never lost that ordinary bloke demeanour of his.
“He liked good books, loved his family and was a keen keep-fit man who liked to jog along the Eastern Road. In Talking to him socially. you would never guess that he had so much on his plate.”
Ironically, Sol Kerzner, in an interview with The Tribune eight years ago, listed “the safety of my family members” as his greatest fear.
Source: The Tribune
