Via Jamaica Observer

Sagicor Investments Jamaica Limited (SIJL), a subsidiary of the Sagicor Group, is in the process of finalising plans for an expansion of its portfolio into the Cayman Islands market.

“We will be expanding our operations to Cayman, which we intend to do before the end of the year. We have received our licence to operate there already and we are very excited about [entering the market there] as this is going to help us to expand our clientele and also our product offerings in the region,” said Tara Nunes, chief executive officer of SIJL.

The Cayman office will be located at “198 North Church Street, Grand Cayman, alongside our sister company, Sagicor Life of the Cayman Islands,” she said in her response to queries from the Jamaica Observer earlier this week.

Further commenting on the rationale behind the move, Nunes said that some tremendous opportunities were currently being eyed by the company in that market, on which they were moving quickly to capitalise.

“Furthermore, we do not think there is a financial entity that can deliver the scope and depth of services to both public and private sector entities as Sagicor can, given our presence in the region. Our target market will be individuals and corporate entities in Cayman and the wider region that are seeking to create, grow and preserve wealth.

“We intend to offer a full range of investment banking products and services including, trading in international securities, mutual funds, structured products, corporate finance solutions, wealth management, brokerage services and advisory services,” she also told the Caribbean Business Report.

Nunes, who currently leads the local operation, indicated that she will preside over the management of the Cayman operation in the interim until a full team was built out to regulate the affairs of the office. Speaking on the potential for other expansions in the region, she said that there was a pipeline of opportunities being explored, on which the company will execute at the right time.

“We will continue to grow our presence in the main market while exploring and building out new opportunities directly or through partnerships,” she stated.

Sagicor Investment, which is intent on developing products aimed at helping its clients to build generational wealth, has within the last two year raised and brokered more than $100 billion in deals and transactions across industries locally. The Sagcior Group of which it is a part turned profits of $2.9 billion during its first-quarter period ended March, rebounding from fallouts caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic. The conglomerate, whose business mainly covers insurance, investments and commercial banking, also saw revenues rise by some 38 per cent to total $23.1 billion.

At the second staging of its Money Talk investors briefing held on Wednesday, Nunes said that her company remains cautiously optimistic as local markets gradually pick up.

“Now that we see some reopening happening and economic activity picking up, we find that investors are positioning themselves to take advantage of the opportunities that are coming. In the equities market locally we see that institutional investors are somewhat on the sidelines and a little cautious right now, but as things continue to be on a positive trend — we expect them to become more bullish,” she said.

Sean Newman, chief investment officer for the Sagicor Group. cited some opportunities in private equity especially those geared towards funding infrastructure and energy projects along with the continued exploration of local equities market as areas having significant potential.