KINGSTON, Jamaica--As the Andrew Holness-led administration continues to divest ownership of some state assets, Jamaicans will soon get an opportunity to buy some of Government’s shares in toll road company TransJamaican Highway Limited (TJH).
Prime Minister Holness says TJH’s initial public offering (IPO) could commence as early as next month.
“We are hoping sometime in early February or thereabouts,” he said at the start of a recent Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) Regional Conference on Investments and Capital Markets.
NCB Capital Markets Limited is the lead arranger for the undertaking. Chief Executive Officer Steven Gooden said the IPO is poised to be the largest in Jamaica’s history.
Holness said TJH’s divestment represents “another opportunity for Jamaicans to invest in a business [and] in a piece of Jamaica” and follows the successful Wigton Windfarm Limited IPO last April, which saw some 31,000 Jamaicans purchasing 11 billion shares offered by the Government at a cost of 50 cents each.
The IPO, which was oversubscribed by J $9 billion (US $67 million), resulted in approximately 12,000 new investors joining the stock market.
“That created a massive opportunity [for] Jamaicans to own shares, and we did it in a way to promote wealth for the average Jamaican…. I termed it the socialization of wealth,” Prime Minister Holness said.
He noted that the East-West highway that TJH operates has “good traffic flow and a good revenue stream,” and so people contemplating purchasing shares when the IPO opens can rest assured that “you can own a piece of Jamaica that is generating income that you can accumulate to [grow your] wealth”.
“Owning a piece of Jamaica is not just [about] a piece of the rock… it’s not just [about] a house or motor vehicle. You need to be owning the companies and the infrastructure that generate positive streams of revenues… that you can save, accumulate and build wealth, That is what we have been doing, as a Government… trying to create wealth for the average Jamaican,” Holness underscored. ~ Caribbean360 ~
