The Indo Daily: Billionaires, beaches and bust-ups – Inside Dermot Desmond’s Caribbean oasis

Canouan, a small island in the Caribbean, is where the world’s billionaires go to escape lowly millionaires, who seem to be ten a penny these days.

Tucked away from prying eyes, the little-known sanctuary is famous for its emerald-green hills, turquoise waters and unspoilt beaches – as well as just about every expensive excess one could desire.

The dream began in the 1990s when Antonio Saladino, a wealthy Swiss-Italian banker, tried to build a home on the island of Mustique but was turned down by the local authority. Faced with the refusal, he did what any self-respecting billionaire would do and bought a nearby island, signing a 99-year lease for most of Canouan.

His ambition was to make it even more luxurious and exclusive than Mustique, and he dreamed up the motto: “Where the billionaires go to escape the millionaires.”

Irish financier Dermot Desmond and reclusive Italian bond trader Andrea Pignataro helped Saladino develop the island in the early 2000s, but all has not been well in paradise, with legal squabbles, in-fighting and unforgiving natural disasters threatening to destroy this deluxe hideaway.

Today on The Indo Daily, Fionnán Sheahan is joined by Niamh Horan, journalist with the Sunday Independent, and Liam Collins, journalist with the Irish Independent, to discuss billionaires, beaches and bust-ups.