SAGICOR Group Jamaica Limited (SJ) is set to raise new equity capital later this year as it gears up to complete a multi-billion-dollar merger with Sagicor Life Inc (SLI).

This was revealed by Sagicor Group President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Christopher Zacca in an appearance on
Money Media last Thursday. Sagicor Group Jamaica and SLI are set to be combined under a new holding company called Sagicor Group Caribbean Limited (SGC). SGC will be the rebranded Caribbean holding company which will be listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) in place of SJ.

However, there are certain conditions which must be met to complete this transaction. According to its parent company Sagicor Financial Company Limited (SFC), the transaction is subject to regulatory approval, approval from SJ’s shareholders, and SJ raising certain financing.

“There will be a scheme of arrangement which will be led by the Jamaican courts and a shareholder meeting. The regulatory filings are being prepared, we’re going to be doing an APO [additional public offering] to raise capital to do the merger, and that is being worked on,” the Sagicor Group CEO revealed.

Sagicor Group Jamaica would become the latest major financial conglomerate on the JSE to seek new equity capital via an APO. NCB Financial Group Limited (NCBFG) only raised half of its intended target amount in June 2024. Of the last five APO’s, only Kingston Properties Limited and Barita Investments Limited have surpassed their initial target amounts.

However, SFC owns 49.11 per cent of Sagicor Group Jamaica and had US$109.32 million in financial investments at the head office level. Pan Jamaica Group Limited (PJAM) owns 30.21 per cent of SJ and had $3.56 billion (US$22.31 million) in cash resources at the company level. Sagicor Group Jamaica’s operating subsidiaries also manage the largest pension fund and unit trust portfolio in Jamaica.

“What I do know is, we intend to invest in closing and transaction costs in the Caribbean and the Caribbean merger, and then make a robust investment in a transformation project,” SFC President and CEO Andre Mousseau noted on the March 12 earnings call.

The combined SGC would have US$6.9 billion in total assets and US$1.3 billion in total revenues on a pro forma basis for the twelve months ending September 30, 2025. Mousseau noted that internal financing costs will improve by US$20 million on a pro forma basis as the business is restructured and intercompany debt retired.

“Prior to this combination — which we believe will close in the fourth quarter of 2026 or thereabouts — our Jamaican subsidiary was constrained from full cooperation with the rest of Sagicor by the dynamic of having a different shareholder base,” Mousseau noted on the constraints faced by the Jamaican business.

Zacca is set to become CEO of SGC while Dodridge Miller, the former CEO of SFC, would be the chairman. Robert Trestrail would retain his role as president and CEO of Sagicor Life Inc. David Noel was appointed executive vice-president and chief operating officer (COO) – Caribbean at SFC in September 2025. Noel is the former CEO of Scotia Group Jamaica Limited.

Data-led transformation

While there haven’t been detailed plans announced in Jamaica on this matter, Mousseau has explained that the Caribbean business will undergo a fully digital-enabled transformation over the two to three years. This initiative will be supported by artificial intelligence (AI) as Sagicor looks to build upon its position in the English-speaking Caribbean. Mousseau highlighted that this transformation would be guided by external parties that have executed these initiatives for other global organisations.

“Whether good or lucky, we are doing it at a fabulous time because the emergence of AI powerful enough to tackle the data transformation challenges involved will make this a faster and more comprehensive transition than what we could have embarked on even 12 months ago,” Mousseau explained on the plan which could add up to two per cent return on equity (ROE) growth.

However, the SFC CEO reminded analysts that there would be no 2026 guidance on the projected earnings for SFC due to the change in the proportion of earnings that SFC derives from the Caribbean. He noted that its share of earnings from SLI would decrease from 100 per cent to 55 per cent while the share of earnings from SJ would rise from 49 per cent to 55 per cent. When coupled with the ongoing digital transformation, the projections wouldn’t be as clear.

SFC itself completed the migration of administrative data for 750,000 in-force policies to a modern, cloud-based system in 2025 for Ivari or Sagicor Canada. This move is expected to allow for quicker product services and launches, along with better scalability and cost improvement and cost certainty.

While SFC grew the insurance service result by 54 per cent to US$255.32 million, lower returns on its investments and higher operating expenses pushed the consolidated profit down six per cent to US$120.05 million, however, the net profit attributable to shareholders declined 32 per cent from US$97.47 million to US$66.94 million.

Despite the decline in consolidated earnings, SFC noted that it achieved three core objectives which included US$142.3 million in core earnings attributable to shareholders, US$167.2 million in new business CSM (contractual service margin), and core ROE of 14.2 per cent. SFC has given guidance where it expects to achieve 14 per cent core ROE in 2027 and 15 per cent core ROE in 2028.

SFC also pointed out that Sagicor Life Inc grew core earnings to shareholders by 59 per cent to US$41.8 million against net profit of US$57.4 million. Sagicor Group Jamaica’s core earnings to shareholders rose 54 per cent to US$47.9 million, compared to the net profit attributable to shareholders of US$50.7 million in 2025.

SFC’s consolidated assets improved 10 per cent to US$25.13 billion, with US$19.26 billion in financial investments and US$333.42 million in cash. Total liabilities increased 11 per cent to US$23.70 billion due to higher insurance contract liabilities. Equity attributable to shareholders grew eight per cent to US$1.04 billion, which translates to a book value of US$7.65 or CA$10.49.

SFC hiked its quarterly dividend by 11 per cent to US$0.075 per quarter, with the first payment to be made on April 17 to shareholders on record as of March 26. That payment totals US$10.16 million. JMMB Group Limited is SFC’s largest shareholder with 33,285,176 ordinary shares or 24.58 per cent of the total.

ZACCA…we’re going to be doing an APO to raise capital to do the merger.