Business Briefs
Published:Wednesday | October 6, 2021 | 12:06 AM
VMIL raises $2.5b for new investments
Victoria Mutual Wealth Management Limited has raised $2.5 billion on behalf of parent company Victoria Mutual Investments Limited to fund its investments in small and medium businesses, and other assets.
The financing was raised via an 18-month bond, issued at 5.5 per cent interest, a price that VM Wealth’s Assistant Vice President – Capital Markets Dwight Jackson said in a press release was made possible by the investment grade rating it received earlier this year from rating agency CariCRIS.
With this transaction, VM Wealth said its investment banking division has raised more than $50 billion over the past three years on behalf of various clients, and that there were more deals in the pipeline that the company was attempting to close by year-end.
Proven closes Heritage deal
Proven Investments Limited has finalised the acquisition of 100 per cent shareholdings in Heritage Education Funds International Inc, inclusive of the distribution and management of the Heritage International Scholarship Trust Plan and the member interests of the Heritage International Scholarship Trust Foundation.
Heritage manages education savings plans for clients in Jamaica, the Bahamas, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands, and has some US$150 million in assets under management
“Already operating in three of the four jurisdictions that Heritage International services, this transaction allows Proven to further strengthen the Heritage business, bringing in a respected, local and agile organisation that knows the region and is committed to investing in and growing the operations,” the Jamaican investment firm said in a market filing.
Epping being liquidated two years after Total takeover
Their operations having merged with new owner Total Jamaica, Epping Oil Company Limited and Epping Retail Limited are being wound up, a process that trustee and liquidator Caydion Campbell says should be completed by year end.
Total Jamaica Limited acquired Epping from Neville Marsh in 2019, whose family founded the gas station network in 1992. Total opted to voluntarily wind up the Epping companies after the takeover.
“Whatever assets there were of Epping belong to Total. The transaction was a share purchase,” Marsh said. “We sold it and got our money, therefore the company was wholly owned by Total Jamaica Limited. They’ve decided to wind it up,” he added.
Campbell said the Epping companies were placed in liquidation on June 15, and that their dissolution should be completed by December 31.
With the acquisition of Epping, and the rebranding of its 17 gas stations, Total became the largest chain in the market, moving from 57 stations to 74.
NCB Financial raises $15b
NCB Financial Group Limited has raised $15 billion via a new bond that will pay interest of 6.0 per cent per annum. The bond was arranged by subsidiary NCB Capital Markets. It’s due to mature on September 9, 2024. The offer was arranged by NCB Capital Markets Limited.