Norbrook Equity Partners has announced an investment of $600 million in SNB Creative Group (SNB), the product of a merger between Blueprint Events and Starlight Productions, both in the event execution industry.

SNB is now led by Deane Shepherd and Ojay Bewley, former company heads of Blueprint and Starlight.

Norbrook indicated in a company release that its investment in the merged entity is “in line with its overall mandate of supporting well-positioned companies in growth industries across the Caribbean.”

SNB, in the announcement, said that as pandemic limitations begin to ease and the appetite for weddings, corporate events, and parties grow, it would leverage a “unique mix of capabilities, expertise, and infrastructure to establish itself as the premier choice for event execution.”

Norbrook’s Chairman Khary Robinson said he has had a long-tenured relationship with Shepherd and “gained an inside perspective” as he led Blueprint from a start-up to a $250 million a year enterprise.

Robinson said Norbrook was therefore “eager to support Blueprint when they committed to taking the major growth step of acquiring a majority stake in the much larger and more resourced Starlight”.

He stated, “We have always been impressed with Deane and the thoughtfulness and determination he put into growing his business into a market leader. We have had dialogue for years about how we could help him scale to the next level.

“Accordingly, as his working partnership with Ojay and the Starlight team deepened, the value of bringing the resources, skill sets, and relationships of our three organisations together quickly became apparent. Accordingly, we committed to becoming a strategic financial partner to support the merged entity.”

Starlight is said to have successfully executed large-scale events such as Dream Weekend and Frenchmen, with creative assistance from Blueprint which has over a decade’s experience in design.

“There has been a massive uptick in calls from corporates, wedding planners, concert curators, and party promoters who have been limited in their scope due to the coronavirus. They are eager to work with our enhanced platform to execute superior events,” said Ojay Bewley, director of SNB.

SNB has also expanded its platform with digital capabilities, launching ‘Reel Time Studios’ for digital event production. This unit has hosted several livestream product launches, weddings, annual general meetings, and live productions such as Guinness Sounds of Greatness and the digital launch of various models from Stewarts Auto.