The planned divestment of the Jamaica Mortgage Bank (JMB) has been put on pause as the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) reviews the deal after getting no bids for the proposed transaction.

This was confirmed in an e-mail to the Jamaica Observer by Denise Arana, general manager for public-private partnerships & privatisation at the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ). The GOJ had announced plans in 2021 to divest its ownership in the JMB. The divestment would involve transferring JMB’s lending portfolio to its wholly owned subsidiary JMB Developments Limited which would be the entity listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE).

In March 2024, the DBJ advertised an opportunity for a strategic investor to be reserved 40 per cent of the shares to be sold in an initial public offering (IPO). That proposal required the investor to not already be licensed by the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) or the Financial Services Commission (FSC) or hold a stake greater than 10 per cent in a licensee or group with a licensee. That bid closed in April 2024.

“At the bid submission deadline, no bids were received for a strategic investor. The GOJ is currently reviewing the transaction structure and as such has not advanced to the stage of preparing the prospectus,” Arana responded.

The DBJ was also handling the proposed sale of a mortgage insurance portfolio which was administered by the JMB. However, Arana noted, “The mortgage insurance portfolio will be retendered in FY 2026/27.”

The JMB reported $971.09 million in revenue and $244.29 million in profit before tax (PBT) for the March 2025 financial year. It had $7.64 billion in total assets and $6.87 billion in loans receivable for the period. Total liabilities and equity were $4.63 billion and $3.01 billion, respectively.

This is the second proposed divestment by the GOJ that has been shelved in the last three years. The Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) indicated in a recent Caricris (Caribbean Information and Credit Rating Services Limited) report that the planned listing of its business process outsourcing (BPO) assets on the JSE has been postponed. The PAJ deferred the planned privatisation move after guidance from its consultants and will be concentrating its efforts on the Caymanas Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

“The authority decided that prevailing market conditions were not conducive to achieving favourable valuation outcomes and therefore postponed the transaction,” the Caricris report added.

Although these two DBJ transactions have been shelved, the DBJ is working on several projects which includes the Agriculture Marketing Corporation Complex Privatisation (AMC) and Soapberry Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion public-private partnership (PPP).

According to Arana, “The proposed transaction involves the redevelopment and long-term lease of the complex to establish a modern logistics and agro-processing hub. The transaction structure is currently being finalised, with preparatory activities underway to support market engagement.”

The Soapberry project is aimed at doubling the wastewater treatment capacity to 150,000 m3/day with the source of revenue being a tariff from the National Water Commission (NWC). The expected life of the project is for 30 years according to the DBJ’s PPP booklet.

“We expect to go to market in another three months or so with the Soapberry opportunity. Now, that involves a US$300-million investment,” stated Minister Matthew Samuda at the Sygnus Business at Breakfast session on March 25.