Managing Director of the JSE, Mrs. Marlene Street Forrest, in her welcome to large audience stated, “I wish to commend Sagicor Bank for taking the decision, having raised capital through private placement, to list by Introduction, its 646.8 million Class A 7.75% Fixed Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preference shares and 1.414 billion Class B, 8.25% Fixed Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preference shares on the Market, making them available to investors on the secondary market.”
Mrs. Street Forrest further highlighted that “Finally, as Sagicor Bank has done here today, while it did not raise the capital through an initial public offering it listed these shares through Introduction. Other companies can also avail themselves of the opportunity to list on the Exchange, thereby achieving other benefits of the market such as business sustainability, increased awareness of the company, increasing the overall efficiency of investment and providing an easy avenue for the raising of additional capital through the market if and when necessary. While we encourage other companies to consider this as an option, we are still making the call to the Government to make the market the avenue to divest government companies as the benefits and the process for accessing the market is no different that the route private companies take.”
Mr. Omar Brown, Assistant Vice President, Treasury, Sagicor Bank Jamaica Ltd., in his remarks stated, “For Sagicor Bank, this is a major milestone, as it will be the first time in our 34 year history that the Bank will list on the Stock Exchange.” He went on to highlight that, “Sagicor Bank has evolved significantly over its many years through a series of mergers and acquisitions.” In closing, Mr. Brown stated that “in 2016, Sagicor Bank made record profits of $1.86 billion, an increase of over 48% from the previous year. During this time, our loan book grew by 29% or J$12.6 billion, which demonstrates our commitment to the growth of the Jamaican economy.”
