By: Anthony Morgan 

Sygnus Credit Investments plans to inject some of the proceeds from their Additional Public Offer (APO) into companies looking to make acquisitions.

According to Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Jason Morris, the demand for private equity in that area is increasing as companies are looking to grow beyond the COVID-19 crisis which should be under control next year based on several advancements with vaccines.

Jason Morris, Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer

“That’s one of the big things we see happening in the market right now,” he said.  Morris noted that the profile of companies in which it intends to invest includes local firms looking to acquire companies outside of Jamaica as well as other companies in other markets acquiring their competitors.

Sygnus Credit Investments has been investing in companies across various industries including: manufacturing, distribution, food services, construction, and renewable energy. Jamaica is its most active market when it comes to private capital.

The company essentially takes shareholder capital and deploys it across the Caribbean into medium sized businesses using private credit instruments that return cash to Sygnus for lending money to those companies.

Morris said more entrepreneurs are coming to Sygnus seeking flexible debt capital to combine with their own equity and back financing to start new projects and businesses.

“There is the demand by Jamaican companies and entrepreneurs who always have this motto of never letting a crisis go to waste,” said Morris.

The Co-Founder also said partnerships have been formed with commercial banks to finance some of these transactions.

“We are effectively not competing with the banks and are actually increasing the pie and therefore many transactions that would have probably not have gotten executed are actually being executed because Sygnus’ money, which resides in a different habitat than corporate debt or bank lending, is actually able to come in to take that medium risk to get that project started,” reasoned Morris.

Sygnus’ APO, which was expected from as early as March, opens at 9:00 a.m. this morning, December 18 and is scheduled to close at 4:30 p.m. on December 23. The APO could close early if fully subscribed.  The company has set a target of roughly US$22 million. 

SCI is selling at least 196 million ordinary shares (with the right to upsize the offer by a further 82 million shares) at J$16.30 for its Jamaican dollar shares and US$0.14 for its US dollar shares.

Ninety percent of the shares are reserved for existing shareholders as of November 20, and team members, who both get a discounted price of J$14.70 or US$0.12 per share.

Berisford Grey, Co-Founder and CEO

Meanwhile, Morris said despite being set back by the pandemic, Sygnus has had a great year.  Co-Founder and CEO, Berisford Grey added that a number of Sygnus’ companies have fared quite well during the pandemic. 

“On the hospitality side which got a push back, the ones that we invested in obviously had some challenges but we are seeing where there are a number of greenshoots in that sector,” he said.

Grey said the company remains committed to building a legacy which will improve the financial landscape in the Caribbean, and has hinted of a launch of another type of alternative financing solution in the near future in addition to its private equity, private credit, and real estate offerings.

He said the aim is to grow the channel over the next 10 years, to be on par with other markets in Europe and the United States.

-END-

Watch full discussion here: