SAGICOR Group Caribbean Limited (SGC) will be headed to the capital markets later this year as it seeks to raise billions for the planned merger between Sagicor Group Jamaica Limited (SJ) and Sagicor Life Inc (SLI).

This was the update provided by Christopher Zacca, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Sagicor Group Jamaica, at the company’s 12th annual general meeting (AGM) held last Wednesday at its New Kingston head office. Sagicor Group Caribbean is expected to become the new holding company for Sagicor Financial Company Limited’s (SFC) operations in the Caribbean.

“SGC, the new holding company, will be raising capital to effect the merger as well as creating a platform for growth — as is expected from the merger — to expand our business, etc,” Zacca said during his presentation.

Although Zacca didn’t provide any insights into the amounts to be raised he noted that it would be done via a mixture of debt and equity to be raised from the capital markets. Sagicor Group Jamaica shareholders are set to vote in the third quarter (July to September) at a court-required and extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to approve the transaction. This will be done under a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement, with the overall transaction to have SGC own SJ and SLI completed by the fourth quarter.

“I will add that both SFC and PanJam have committed to supporting this raise in the form of equity,” Zacca added on the support expected from the company’s two largest shareholders.

Currently, Barbadian life insurance company Sagicor Life Inc acts as the intermediate parent company for SFC’s Caribbean operations. Apart from its subsidiaries in the eastern Caribbean, SLI and its subsidiaries LOJ Holdings Limited and Sagicor Life Insurance Trinidad & Tobago Limited collectively own 49.11 per cent of Sagicor Group Jamaica. Pan Jamaica Group Limited (PJAM) owns 30.21 per cent of Sagicor Group Jamaica.

Under the new structure, all existing Sagicor Group Jamaica shareholders would own Sagicor Group Caribbean, which would contain all of its Caribbean subsidiaries held by SJ and SLI. Sagicor Group Caribbean will be listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) and become a direct way for investors to have exposure to Sagicor’s Caribbean operations rather than the Jamaican business which currently exists.

Sagicor Group Jamaica as a standalone holding company has $75.84 billion in assets, which primarily consists of its investments in its subsidiaries. Its equity base stood at $60.77 billion with $23.26 billion in retained earnings. It paid $6.48 billion in dividends or 95 per cent of its profits in 2025.

Although Sagicor Life Inc’s standalone financials are not public, it had BB$12.93 billion in total assets and BB$2.50 billion in equity, with BB$1.78 billion attributable to shareholders. It paid BB$126.03 million ($9.75 billion) in dividends to SFC in 2024.

During the first quarter ending March 31, SFC’s Sagicor Life segment reported a consolidated net loss of US$11.05 million, which was influenced by certain one-time charges in preparation for the merger. SFC President and CEO Andre Mousseau noted at the Sagicor Group Jamaica AGM that this was US$13 million

“We are using the pre-merger process as an opportunity to clean things up, so to speak, and make sure that the companies are delivered in the best financial shape to have the best return on equity going forward,” the SFC executive explained.

Mousseau has been discussing the impact of the SGC transaction during earnings calls and even at SFC’s May 13 shareholder meeting in Barbados. While he has pointed to the positive impact which will be enabled through a digital transformation, he also highlighted the opportunities to leverage the skill sets of teams across the region. He gave an example with the combination of insurance underwriters from Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad or Panama working together to achieve greater value.

“A lot of the advances are not purely technology but they are enabled by technology in terms of getting everyone across the Caribbean onto new systems in terms of those systems being able to be hosted in the cloud, which reduces infrastructure cost and total cost of operations,” Mousseau detailed.

Melissa drags first quarter

Sagicor Jamaica’s bottom line was virtually cut in half, from $4.04 billion to $1.87 billion. This was influenced by $0.77 billion in additional insurance provisions by Advantage General Insurance Company Limited (AGIC) and a swing from an unrealised profit to an unrealised loss on its investments. Despite the first quarter impact, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Andre Ho Lung noted that about half of the Hurricane Melissa claims were adjudicated and reinsurance should cover these amounts without there being any cash drag on AGIC.

“I believe that virtually the vast majority of claims have now been submitted to AGI but claims adjudication will take some time, particularly if the claims are complex. Yes, we have recognised additional provisions but we don’t really expect that there are going to be these kinds of large shifts,” the CFO said on the storm impact.

With respect to the change in insurance perception after the hurricane, Zacca responded, “In insurance, I think people are more aware of the value of having insurance on their property and also insuring their property for the right amount. So, we do see [that] as recovery happens, you will see more people making use of insurance on their property.”

Sagicor Bank Jamaica Limited Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chorvelle Johnson Cunningham noted that the bank’s corporate loan portfolio is driving its loan growth, and that it expects to release its digital wallet to process Jam-Dex by, latest, the first quarter of 2027. She also added that the e-bank platform is being upgraded to facilitate ACH transactions, and that Apple Pay and tokenisation were in the pipeline of projects coming on stream.

“This merger will improve our ability to serve our customers, enhance operational efficiency, create regional diversification, and strengthen our resilience to economic and climate-related challenges. We expect to leverage this greater scale to invest more in technology and broaden our expertise while maintaining continuity of service, policies, and client interactions throughout the transaction,” SJ Chairman Peter Melhado closed.

MOUSSEAU…a lot of the advances are not purely technology but they are enabled by technology in terms of getting everyone across the Caribbean onto new systems.

Sagicor Group Caribbean’s corporate structure.