By Anthony Morgan

PROVEN Investments’ asset base should be in excess of US$1 billion by the time it releases its first quarter results this summer. In its report for the period ending December 2020, the company’s consolidated assets totalled US$649.73 million. 

Since then, PROVEN has announced three big acquisitions within the region, the latest being Heritage Education Funds International with assets under management totalling about US$150 million.

At the top of the year, they announced the US$21.4-million acquisition of a majority stake in the Barbados-based food processing company, Roberts Manufacturing. That company has US$26 million in net assets, based on its latest financials. 

Then, just recently in March, PROVEN also disclosed its intentions to acquire Fidelity Bank in the Cayman Islands, which had in excess of US$350 million in assets up to the end of September 2020.

“Based on all these acquisitions, when PROVEN releases their results by August for their first quarter, and hopefully everything closes by then, PROVEN’s asset base is going to be more than US$1 billion,” said Business writer at the Jamaica Observer, David Rose.

Business Writer at Jamaica Observer, David Rose.

Rose has described the likely outcome as phenomenal, having moved from their initial US$20 million base in 2010 to enter the billion dollar club 11 years later.

“All these acquisitions are just a continuation of what they’ve been doing all this time, which includes acquiring, growing organically, and paying some good dividends to shareholders. Now  PROVEN has one of the best US dollar dividend yields on the market, about 5%,” said Rose.

Rose said this latest acquisition in Heritage puts PROVEN in the lead of the Mergers and Acquisition segment of the local market.

He said Heritage will give PROVEN direct access or another entry way to the Bahamas where the company has its base of operations.

“PROVEN’s lowest point in the Caribbean was in St Lucia and now it’s Roberts Manufacturing which is in Barbados. It’s highest point is now going to be in the Bahamas and its most western point is going to be Cayman with Fidelity Bank,” he reasoned.

Rose said PROVEN has been putting their APO funds to good use but also pointed out that they stand to gain at least another J$100 million from its stake in Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) to use for their regular deals.

Those funds can now be released with the approval from the Bank of Jamaica to pay out dividends to shareholders in excess of 1% of shareholdings.

In the meantime, Investment Analyst at PROVEN Wealth, Julian Morrison said PROVEN will benefit from Heritage’s earnings in fee income from its asset management operations.

Investment Analyst at PROVEN Wealth, Julian Morrison

He said PROVEN will also bring some expertise to the table having already themselves been an asset manager through PROVEN Wealth.

“They have pension funds that they manage such as PROVEN Rock and they also have their unit trust funds that they do asset management through, so through their learnings and expertise through these business lines they can apply it across to this investment to exploit any efficiencies that may be there and also to increase value for shareholders so that is an advantage,” said Morrison.

He said while it’s not yet clear how the company will be incorporated, PROVEN will have a material impact on the strategic direction of Heritage by owning 100% of shares.

Equities Trader at JMMB, Clive Charlton also agreed that this position will likely yield some decisions to “broaden the horizon of heritage”, adding that PROVEN has the capital to do so.

Equities Trader at JMMB, Clive Charlton

Charlton said the acquisitions augur well not only for PROVEN but for their investor base stakeholders.

“They have really made some good picks in the market space, picks not only diversifying in terms of product offering but in terms of currency, geographic areas and region…Technically with their holdings now they could be considered a regional conglomerate,” he said.

-END-