Sources: JMMB, Capital & Credit in merger talks
Published:Friday | July 8, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) and Capital & Credit Financial Group (CCFG) are in talks about the full or partial acquisition of its merchant bank, three independent sources indicate.
An executive at JMMB intimate with the negotiations declined to comment, but would not deny the reports.
Asked who would respond to Financial Gleaner queries, the executive said: "No one will talk about that".
Mailed queries to JMMB sent Monday went unanswered up to press time. And Capital & Credit has said it will not comment.
One respected investor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that a July agreement was possible. Another source in the financial services sector said that JMMB wants a banking licence, hence its move to strike a deal with Capital and Credit, which operates a merchant bank.
JMMB had been turned down for a licence by the central back after the 2008 crisis, but executive director Donna Duncan Scott told the Financial Gleaner earlier this year that the brokerage was still actively seeking a way to provide commercial banking services to clients.
JMMB is wary, said one source, of the Capital and Credit's non-performing loan portfolio, which was more than J$1 billion at the end of March.
Last month, president and CEO of CCFG, Ryland Campbell, indicated that CCFG had been in talks with Pan Caribbean Financial Services (PCFS), but failed to reach a deal.
"PCFS held discussions with certain selected shareholders of CCFG and proposed a conditional offer to the said shareholders. The conditional offer which was proposed to the said selected shareholders has expired," said Campbell, in a notice to the Jamaica Stock Exchange.