Co-founder and Group CEO of PROVEN Management, Chris Williams, says the company’s real estate portfolio is thriving despite the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Speaking with Kalilah Reynolds on Taking Stock, Williams said that the past two years have been extremely busy for the company following several acquisitions and multiple real estate investments.

PROVEN REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) manages the company’s real estate portfolio.

Williams said there are no plans to spinoff PROVEN REIT into a separate listed company, although it is something they have considered.

“If you want exposure to PROVEN REIT, you have to buy PROVEN [stock]”, said Williams.  “We have thought about it, and we feel that having a multi-teired strategy is better for the shareholders.”

The group CEO explained that the company has three main activities:

1. Banking and wealth, which includes PROVEN Wealth, Boslil Bank, Fidelity Bank, IFP and Heritage Funds
2. Real estate developments
3. Opportunistic investments, including it’s shareholding in JMMB, Access Financial, Roberts Manufacturing

Development updates

The CEO said that construction on all of the properties, both in Jamaica and in the Cayman Islands is going well.

Via at Braemar

“We’re just about ready to wrap up on Via on Braemar Avenue (in Kingston), which is our flagship project,” he said, adding that all 99 units on the property have been sold.

He also noted that work on the mixed use, commercial and residential development in Mandeville is moving along nicely.

“We have a nice tenant that we just signed that will be announced shortly, for commercial use, so the commercial is pretty much sold out,” he said.

The CEO said the Sol Harbour property, located in the heart of Ocho Rios, St Ann will be designed to cater especially to AirBnB. He said a receptionist area, to allow AirBnB hosts to check in their guests will be built.

“The pandemic hasn’t been too bad on us,” said Williams, adding that nine of the 13 available units on its Cayman Islands property, Lagoon, have been sold. 

According to Williams, the company eventually plans to expand its real estate business to include properties in Barbados, however, it will take some time. 

“The villa market in Barbados is extremely hot and we’re looking to see if that can evolve into an opportunity,” he said. 

Acquisition mode complete

Coming on the heels of PROVEN’s latest acquisition, Williams said that the company is no longer in acquisition mode, but is more focused on improving the businesses that it currently has to maximise returns to shareholders.

PROVEN recently acquired Fidelity Bank in the Cayman Islands, to bring to five the number of financial institutions that the company now owns across the Caribbean.

“There is PROVEN Wealth in Jamaica, Fidelity in Cayman, Boslil Bank in St Lucia, IFP also in Cayman and Heritage Fund,” he said. Williams said that over the next year, all five institutions will merge to fall under one brand ‘PROVEN Bank’. 

The CEO said they are conducting research to determine if Boslil’s name should be changed, since the bank’s name and brand already carry a lot of weight. 

PROVEN’s acquisition of Fidelity Bank brought the company’s total  assets to over US$1 billion. Williams said the target would not have been met without the PROVEN team.

“It is an extremely solid and efficient team that is always looking for opportunities and are just excited to do the job,” he said.

PROVEN stock price – January 2021 to January 2022

He said that shareholders will soon start reaping the rewards, on the stock exchange, of all the good things happening to the company now.

PROVEN’s stock price has not moved much since its Additional Public Offer (APO) a year ago, January 2021.  The public was able to buy in for JM$33.50 per share. It hit its 12-month high in May, at about JM$38, but closed on Monday, February 7 at JM$33.44.

However, shareholders have benefitted from four dividend payments in the past year, ranging from 15 cents to 25 cents JMD per share.

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