NCB share trades growing larger, more frequent - 30m units sold Monday
Published:Wednesday | December 22, 2010 | 12:00 AM
National Commercial Bank (NCB) Jamaica Limited has led the market this month as the most actively traded stock on which transactions have involved more than 46 million units in three weeks.
The largest of those trades was a 30-million share sale on Monday, valued at around J$544 million - the largest block to date - was by an undisclosed but 'substantial' shareholder of the banking stock. The previous Friday, a sale of 6,967,884 NCBJ units was also recorded by 'a connected party'.
Few analysts in the market seem to know the underlying reason for the trades, but seem unperturbed by their frequency.
"It's just Lee Chin and his people again," said one New Kingston analyst.
NCB is majority owned by Canadian-Jamaican billionaire Michael Lee Chin, who has spread his 62-63 per cent interest across several of his businesses, with AIC Barbados Limited as parent. When Lee Chin acquired NCB in 2002, he held 75 per cent of the shares.
The last time there were such manoeuvrings with the stock, Lee Chin was creating a Caribbean equity fund for new asset acquisitions, which included shares in a Dominican Republic condominium complex.
But this time, brokers said they have heard no mention of new asset purchases, while Robert Almeida, who heads up Lee Chin's AIC Global Holdings, has said the company is not prepared to make any disclosures at this time.
The Jamaican market, meantime, is content to wait, because Lee Chin is current on his debt payments, according to one brokerage house.
Of the approximate J$3.9 billion of bonds - US$44.4m and J$389m - that were due this year and the next, Lee Chin is left with just one redemption on a US$12 million note due April 19, 2011, according to a 2009 revised payment schedule.
The last redemption of a US$7.75 million note was in September, according to the schedule.
In October, more than 24 million units traded, the majority by NCB connected companies and directors, while in November 23 million units changed ownership.
The stock is now trading at around J$18-19 per share.