JAMAICA Broilers Group has secured roughly $24 billion in financing to clear its local debt obligations, completing a funding programme that management had previously indicated was required but of which only $15 billion had been formally disclosed to the market.

Further details of the completed financing were provided at the company’s recently held annual general meeting, as shareholders pressed management for clarity on the company’s debt position following accounting irregularities in its US operations and the subsequent restructuring of its borrowings in Jamaica.

While Jamaica Broilers had earlier disclosed a $15 billion refinancing arranged through the National Commercial Bank group, executives confirmed at the AGM that the published figure represents only part of a broader financing framework involving three major banks.

“We have signed a $24-billion financing deal in Jamaica, which includes roughly $15 billion from the NCB group, but it also includes CIBC Caribbean and Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Limited,” Ian Parsard, group senior vice-president for finance and corporate planning, told the meeting at the company’s McCook’s Pen headquarters in St Catherine last Friday.

Parsard explained that the wider structure was necessary after the company breached multiple loan covenants during the 2024/25 financial year, largely because delays in completing the audited accounts prevented the company from securing year-end waivers.

“What contributed to the going-concern issue was the fact that we had a number of individual loan agreements with about five Jamaican lenders. Once we breached those covenants and didn’t have financials, we couldn’t apply for waivers. That’s how we ended up in that position,” he said.

“Notwithstanding that, none of our lenders, either the ones in the US or the ones in Jamaica, were uncooperative. In fact, it was quite the opposite. They were surprisingly very, very cooperative,” Parsard continued.

The refinancing replaced those individual agreements with a single inter-creditor framework covering all participating banks. Under the new structure, previous covenant breaches were fully reset, and the company moved from unsecured borrowing to secured facilities supported by updated asset valuations.

“It was a complex deal. Basically, it involved a number of different agreements. We have an inter-creditor agreement; and really what that does, it says all of the covenants you were bound by before individually, we are setting that aside. We are now moving forward with a common set of covenants. And guess what? All of the breaches of the past, they have been completely reset. So that is an extremely significant development,” Parsard explained.

The arrangement also allowed Jamaica Broilers to materially alter the maturity profile of its debt. According to Parsard, the company was able to reclassify $24 billion from current liabilities to long-term liabilities, repay all short-term borrowings, and retire bonds that were not due to mature until 2027.

“Bottom line, what this really means for the company is that our current liabilities, which previously significantly exceeded our current assets, have now been addressed,” he said.

The $15 billion component previously disclosed to the market comprises $6.4 billion in loan facilities from National Commercial Bank (Jamaica) Limited and $8.7 billion in multi-tranche bonds arranged through NCB Capital Markets, with maturities of three, five, 11 and 14 years. The remaining $9 billion reflects restructured facilities with CIBC Caribbean and Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica.

Shareholders also sought details on pricing, given the size of the package and prevailing interest rates, as well as what the debt would mean for dividend payouts going forward.

Parsard said the facilities were priced at market rates. The NCB bank loan is linked to the weighted average Treasury bill yield, translating to “roughly 10-point-something per cent” at current levels, while the bonds carry rates ranging from 10.75 per cent to 11 per cent.

“Those are market rates today, and we think those are good rates that we’ve been able to put together,” he said.

Rates on the facilities from CIBC Caribbean and Scotiabank were largely held steady, Parsard added, noting that CIBC requested a one-percentage point adjustment, while Scotiabank made no change.

“By itself, the market rate that we’re paying on the loan and the bonds is not an impediment to paying dividends,” Parsard told shareholders, adding that dividend decisions would continue to be driven by profitability rather than the size of the financing package. Under the company’s dividend policy, payouts are targeted at 20 per cent of after-tax profits.

The refinancing has been supported by a revaluation of the group’s land and buildings, completed during the first half of the 2025/26 financial year. The exercise added more than $50 billion to asset values, lifting stockholders’ equity to approximately $32 billion as at November 1, 2025, from a deficit position at the end of the prior financial year.

While the Jamaican refinancing has now been approved, the VP of finance said discussions with US lenders are still ongoing.

“We do not have a final agreement as yet with the syndicate of banks in the USA,” Parsard said.

“The most important thing, however, and it’s good when you can get independent confirmation of this. The working relationship that exists between the leadership and the banking syndicate has been described as uncommonly very, very supportive and very good. That is more important than actually having a written agreement during this period of transition. So everybody’s calm. The banking group is calm. They’re working together with us,” he continued.

He added that the group’s debt is broadly evenly split between Jamaica and the United States, with the $24-billion facility refinancing the equivalent of about US$150 million, while total US debt currently stands at roughly US$120 million.

For the six months ended November 1, 2025, Jamaica Broilers reported group revenue of $50.3 billion and a net profit of $1.2 billion, despite recording a net loss of $379 million in the second quarter. Jamaica operations delivered a segment result of $3.6 billion, while the US segment continued to face cost and pricing pressures.