Lighting and energy company FosRich Company Limited has turned its attention to meeting demand in the Guyanese market following the successful raise of $900 million on a bond offering through arranger JN Fund Managers.

The proceeds of the bond will provide FosRich with working capital to purchase raw materials as the company seeks to meet demand in the South American country for PVC pipes as well as repair electric transformers, according to FosRich Managing Director Cecil Foster.

“We are in the process of building out supplier relationships [with companies in] Guyana, and you know that Guyana has a lot of infrastructure that they’re implementing,” he told Jamaica Observer Thursday by phone.

“We think our PVC pipe is a very ripe product for that market. So we are there right now bidding to the Government to supply pipes for these infrastructural projects…So we need the funds to make sure that we have more raw materials to supply on demand,” he explained further.

In January, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic-led Government announced a GY$1.15-trillion budget, which represented a 46.6 per cent increase over the previous 2023 budget. Of that amount, GY$204.1 billion will be allocated to infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, industrial plants, government campuses, and utilities.

Following three visits to Guyana last year — one on a Government-led trade mission and the others with FosRich partners — Foster believes that there are other opportunities worth exploring, which can be financed through the proceeds of the bond. One such opportunity is to engage in electricity transformer repairs, similar to what the company already does locally for the national electricity distributor Jamaica Public Service.

In fact, Foster revealed that FosRich was already in discussions with Guyana Power and Light Incorporated and is now ready to formalise business relations.

“We have been strengthening our relationship with them and it’s up to us now to come to the table with a solution for them, for the massive amount of transformers they have lying around. So we’re working on that solution,” he said.

Coming out of Foster’s trips to Guyana with Huawei, FosRich will embark on the implementation of solar projects in collaboration with its partner.

Additionally, the company has signed a memorandum of understanding with another oriental outfit — China Harbour Engineering Company — engaged in infrastructure development. The company has received contracts from the Guyanese Government to renovate the Cheddi Jaggan International Airport in the capital Georgetown, as well as for the construction of bridges.

“So we are in the process of working with [CHEC] to supply their needs in Guyana,” Foster told Caribbean Business Report.

He is, however, adamant that the company is not planning to set up a plant or store in that country.

When asked if the bond was a short-term measure to fulfil demand in Guyana, as the company prepares for an additional public offering (APO), he confirmed, noting that the company is careful about the time of the capital raise.

While Foster did not give a definite answer on whether the APO will be used to cover the most recent bond, he did indicate that the company may retire some of its more mature debt following the APO.