JMMB Group disclosed on Thursday, July 21, that its capital market unit had successfully placed a $750-million preference share offer on behalf of bunker fuel supplier, West Indies Petroleum (WIP) Limited, late last month.

The funds raised will be used to fund WIP’s acquisition of Jamaica Broilers’ subsidiary, JB Terminal (Port Esquivel) Limited, as well as to retrofit the facility, thus allowing WIP to expand its operations and deepen its penetration of the local bunker market, the financier said.

JMMB noted the acquisition, itself announced in early July, was structured as a cash and debt deal, with WIP paying cash of US$4 million and assuming US$18.5 million of debt owed to Jamaica Broilers by the ethanol business. The total acquisition price is US$22.5 million.

The preference shares, which have a maturity date of 2021, are cumulative, redeemable, non-participating, and pay a quarterly dividend of 11.50 per cent.

JMMB said the fully subscribed issue was offered solely to institutional investors and was taken up by pension funds, as revealed by Karl Townsend, chief country officer of JMMB Group Capital Markets Unit, Jamaica.

Retrofitting of the JB Terminal (Port Esquivel) Limited is already underway and is expected to conclude in five months.

JMMB said the preference share structure used by WIP to finance the acquisition allows the company to raise capital more efficiently while managing its debt repayment in accordance with its expected expansion.

WIP, which was formed in 2013 specifically to enter the bunkering market by its directors — Gordon Shirley, Courtney Wilkinson, Charles Chambers, John Levy, and Tarik Felix — expects to take advantage of the projected growth in the bunkering market as Jamaica seeks to attract large vessels in the establishment of itself as a logistic hub, as well as the expansion of the Panama Canal, JMMB said.