The 134-year-old Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS) led by Courtney Campbell has sought to raise capital by being the first building society on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE).

Given the current excitement of initial public offers (IPOs) in the market, industry insiders expect the approximately $690-million offer to be fully taken up by investors and, in fact, oversubscribed.

That said, the VMBS IPO is not just a story about being first or raising money. It is a story about reinforcing the goodwill of not only staff who believe in the company, but the thousands of customers who have mortgages from the company.

To reinforce the goodwill, the VM team have three prices on offer for their IPO.

A total of 225,003,750 Ordinary Shares in the Offer are initially reserved for staff and customers of the VMBS group at a discount from $2.08 to $2.33 each, and 75 million for the general public at $2.45 each.

So right off the bat, VM staff earn an 18 per cent return on investment when the shares are listed on the main market.

For clients who include their account number on the application form, they will receive an immediate five per cent return on investment. Of course, these returns will only be actualised if one sells.

Casual observeration of activities at the VM offices around the corporate area suggest that the sweetener is a hit with clients.

Even better for investors who hold onto the stock, in its prospectus VMBS states that it expects to distribute up to 75 per cent of the after-tax earnings as cash dividends.

The offer officially opens on Monday and closes on December 18th.

While known for offering mortgages, VMBS will, through its VM Wealth investment arm, use the funds raised in the IPO to provide financing solutions to the small business sector and capitalise on new business opportunities.