The National Environmental and Planning Agency (NEPA) has approved an application for Sygnus Real Estate Finance Limited’s (SRF) Lakespen project in St Catherine.

The approval was given to Lakespen Industrial Park Limited at NEPA’s NRCA, TCPA authorities meeting on August 19. This is in relation to an environmental permit for a subdivision of 26 to 50 lots at the Lakespen property. Lakespen Industrial Park is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lakespen Holdings Limited, a St Lucian international business company, which is owned by SRF.

Lakespen Industrial owns two properties totalling 55 acres, which are adjacent to Wisynco Group Limited. Those two properties are currently valued at $3.08 billion with SRF recognising it as an industrial property with warehouses, light manufacturing and distribution referenced in its quarterly report. The development of the Lakespen project will represent the first major project for SRF’s second investment lifecycle.

“We have entered into a desirable contract with a contractor. That contract was executed and we’re pretty much at the back end of the design phase and we remain on track for construction to commence in early 2026 as indicated there,” stated David Cummings, vice-president and head of real estate & project finance at Sygnus Capital Limited, during SRF’s July 16 earnings call.

SRF subsidiary Sepheus Holdings Limited also received NEPA approval in March 2023 for a 14.4-acre beachfront property in Mammee Bay, St Ann. The two NEPA applications were for a hotel development with more than 200 rooms. There has been no subsequent update on these applications, but the property has increased in value from $4.88 billion in August 2022 to $5.79 billion for its latest valuation. SRF’s noted in its earnings call that work continues towards the decision phase with approvals and studies on the potential development.

“We’re making great progress in our discussions with potential partners, and we’ve made very positive advances towards the decision phase of this particular project. So, clearly in the coming months ahead, as we get into that phase, we will be reporting back to investors and shareholders on the clear direction forward for the Mammee Bay project,” Cummings added.

SRF is a publicly listed company that engages in real estate via financing under real estate investment notes or property development with its own capital or joint venture partners. During its first investment lifecycle, SRF completed the Spanish Penwood warehouse complex development on Spanish Town Road and One Belmont project on 1-3 Belmont Road, Kingston 5. It also bought and sold properties such as the former French Embassy on 13 Hillcrest Avenue to the Bank of Jamaica and 56-58 Lady Musgrave Road to Ripton International Capital Holdings Limited.

As it embarks on its second investment lifecycle, SRF will be focusing on the development of the Lakespen and Mammee Bay properties while working on the latest assets added to its balance sheet. These include the 0.9-acre property on 16 Montrose Road through Charlemagne Holdings Limited, the 4.9-acre property in New Court, Trelawny through its 86 per cent joint venture Delphin Holdings Limited and 1.3-acre property in Land Fall, Ocho Rios, St Ann through its 71 per cent joint venture 5658 LMR Limited.

SRF is currently working on the partial exit of its interest in Audere Holdings Limited, the entity which owns the One Belmont development. Sygnus Capital Limited moved into the property in December 2024 with the second tenant set to move in during August 2025. The nine-storey building with five floors of office space is currently valued over $5.98 billion. SRF acquired an additional 16 per cent stake in Audere during Q2 2025 (December to February) to bring its interest to 86 per cent. SRF recognised a $162.20 million gain on this acquisition.

SRF’s third quarter (March to May) saw it report a net profit of $151.74 million compared to a net loss of $136.02 million. The improvement in earnings was driven by the $543.85 million share of profit from its joint venture entities, with the bulk of these earnings attributed to the gain on acquisition of Delphin. SRF’s operating expenses increased 47 per cent from $78.23 million to $115.25 million as it spent more to deal with assets undergoing workout and professional fees related to the Mammee Bay project.

SRF is currently managed by Sygnus Capital Limited. For the 2024 financial year (September 2023 to August 2024), the management fee was moved from two to one per cent of core assets under management. That fee moved to 1.25 per cent for the 2025 FY and will revert to 2.00 per cent on September 1.

SRF’s net loss for the nine-month period improved from $440.87 million to $45.96 million as the company benefited from the share of profits from its joint ventures and gain on the acquisition of shares and disposal of financial instruments. SRF measures the fair value of its investment properties during its fourth quarter which is typically reported in its audited financial statements that should be published by October 30.

SRF’s consolidated asset base grew to $16.06 billion at the end of May as the company had $9.62 billion in investment properties, $3.84 billion in joint ventures and $2.24 billion in REINs. SRF’s liabilities and shareholders equity were $7.68 billion and $8.38 billion, respectively. SRF’s equity base increased by $377.91 million as it issued 20,707,342 ordinary shares to Sygnus Capital Group Limited on March 19. That made Sygnus Capital Group the second largest shareholder behind ATL Group Pension Fund Trustees Nominee Limited.

SRF’s share price closed at $7.48/US$0.0598 on Tuesday. That left the JMD security down 24 per cent in 2025 while the USD security is up two per cent. SRF’s book value is $24.14.

“The main takeaway is that there is plenty of opportunity across the region. Clearly, there are some nuances with each territory that we’re mindful of, but the good news is that we are seeing there are really great opportunities across the basin stretching from Belize, Cayman, Turks & Caicos, Bahamas, Guyana, Barbados, St Lucia just to name a few. These opportunities are mainly in the residential, hospitality and commercial sectors,” Cummings closed.