Dr. Derrick McKoy, Director of MVL Stockbrokers & Director of the JSE inserted the JSE Strip on the Main Board of the Exchnage. He is flanked by Hugh Croskery – Chairman, Stocks and Securities Limited, Marlene Street Forrest – GM and Company Secretary, JSE, Mark Croskery – President and CEO, Stocks and Securities Limited, (lead broker for the JSE listing), Alvaro Casserly – Deputy Chairman, Jamaica Central Securities Depository (JCSD), and Garth Kiddoe – Director JSE and JCSD.
Historic and exciting, are a few of the superlatives that were used to describe the listing of the Jamaica Stock Exchange’s Ordinary Shares on the Board of the Exchange on Tuesday, July 23, 2013 at the Jamaica Stock Exchange’s Offices, 40 Harbour Street; Kingston. Thirty eight million, two hundred and fifty thousand (38,250,000) shares were offered to the public at a price of $2.85 via an Initial Public Offering (IPO). This represents 27% of its shares and the offer was oversubscribed by 47%. The Stock Exchange is the first listing on the Main Market for the year and follows in the footsteps of exchanges’ such as, New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange to list on its own Board.
Mrs. Marlene Street Forrest, General Manager of the Jamaica Stock Exchange in welcoming the audience, stated that “The listing here this morning completes the road to demutualization of the Exchange and has put us on a path where we now have 203 shareholders up from 11. We welcome the mix of investors we received, both small and institutional”.
Mrs. Street Forrest in engaging the audience went on to say, “we thank you for your confidence in us and your buying into our aspiration to be a world class securities market, catering to the needs of different types of investors. Whether the goal is for Equities Investments on the Main or Junior Markets, Bond Markets, US Denominated Market, Futures and Options, Depository Receipts, Trustee and Registrar Services, Depository Service, Corporate Secretarial Services or who knows, perhaps in the future, platforms for Online Trading, Crowd Funding, Commodities, Closed-end Mutual Funds, Exchange Traded Funds; our aim is to listen to you and provide the best. There are a myriad of ways we can and must grow the Exchange for the general public, our country and you our new investors. You have therefore invested into a growth company, a young and vibrant company, despite our 44 years of sterling contribution to Jamaica.”
Mr. Garth Kiddoe, Chairman of the Jamaica Central Securities Depository and Director of the JSE, told the audience that one of the most significant events that took place at the JSE was the demutualization of the JSE, which led to the separation of the commercial arm from the regulatory arm and culminated in the listing of the JSE’s ordinary shares. He congratulated all those that were involved in the process to make the listing a reality.
Mr. Mark Croskery, President and CEO of Stocks and Securities took the opportunity to thank all the persons involved in the listing. He stated that approximately 80% of the stocks issued were taken up by the institutional investors, who he said showed great confidence in the Stock Exchange. He went on to state that in recent time most of the companies who listed, had their shares taken up mainly by retail customers. However the institutional investor showed great faith in the JSE’s offer. He further encouraged other companies to take advantage of the Main and Junior Markets for raising capital and financing their businesses.
