Food manufacturing and distribution company Seprod on Wednesday received shareholder approval to increase the company’s authorised shares, but is still silent on when the new capital will be deployed and for what purpose.
The company’s share capital will increase from 780 million shares to one billion, creating 220 million additional units.
Just shy of 733.55 million of Seprod shares are issued and listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, valuing the company at over $50 billion.
Seprod has said the new shares will be listed once they have been deployed, but the details around when and how the transaction will be structured were not disclosed.
The last time the company increased its capital, the shares were utilised to finance an acquisition. But while Seprod is currently in growth mode, via acquisition and new products, the company hasn’t indicated what it aims to do with the additional capital this time around.
“What we want to do is look at the options regarding our capital structure. We can do several things, including raising money, but we only have one AGM per year to get the approval of shareholders on any option we want to explore,” said Seprod Chairman Paul ‘PB’ Scott.
He added that the company has “lots of different plans” to pursue over the next 12 months.
Seprod’s last big deal involved the acquisition of Trinidad & Tobago-based food distributor AS Bryden Holdings Limited in June 2022. That $7.11-billion transaction was financed with loans of $3.91 billion and preference shares worth $3.19 billion. Seprod plans to list AS Bryden on the stock market in Jamaica and Trinidad.
The Jamaican food company is also in the process of expanding another subsidiary, Caribbean Products Limited, to produce more margarine for sale to the Caribbean region.
Seprod last increased its share capital in 2018, from 530 million to 780 million units. Of the 250 million additional shares, 217.149 million were issued as financing for the deal to acquire Facey Commodity Holdings Limited and its wholly owned subsidiary Facey Commodity Company Limited, together referred to as Facey Consumer.
Both the Facey Group and Seprod are controlled by the Musson Jamaica conglomerate, a private family business headed by Scott as its CEO and chairman.
karena.bennett@gleanerjm.com