Sygnus mulls upsizing extended APO - Share offer ends today after courting big investors
Published:Wednesday | December 30, 2020 | 12:08 AMNeville Graham/Business Reporter
Listed private credit outfit Sygnus Credit Investments Limited appears set to upsize to US$32 million, its US$22-million additional public offering of shares, or APO, which was extended by a week as the company sought to cast a wider net and hold the door for more institutional investors, including pension funds, to buy into the capital raise.
Company officials dismissed any notion that the extension was occasioned by an underperformance of the offer, even as they conceded that the initial one-week window would have closed the door on a bigger buy-in by some large investors.
“We are very excited and happy about the deal. Words can’t express the positive interaction that we are getting in the market. It is a good look,” Jason Morris, chief investment officer at Sygnus Credit told the Financial Gleaner, pointing out that the market has been responding well.
The company is offering just over 196 million ordinary shares, 90 per cent of them reserved for existing shareholders, team members and key investors, with 10 per cent available to the general public.
The funds, if raised, will give the company capital for deployment as it seeks to grow its portfolio of investments by 60 per cent, according to CEO of Sygnus Capital Berisford Grey. Sygnus Capital is the management company for Sygnus Credit. Sygnus Credit offers credit financing to targeted companies across the region. The company, formed in 2017 and listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange after an initial public offering in 2018, currently oversees a portfolio of US$62 million, with its investments spanning 11 economic sectors in seven Caribbean countries.
While declining to give details of the take-up at Monday this week, Morris said the company may move to increase the shares on offer by up to 82.271 million, suggesting the APO had hit its fundraising target.
“Without saying where we are, I can say that we are getting ready to upsize the deal,” Morris said.
He noted that it being Christmas, it was pension funds’ approval season and by extending the offer period, allowance was being made for some pension fund managers to complete their approval processes in time to buy into Sygnus.
“There are some that we engaged with that were asking for additional time as they go through the approval process. We recognise that it was a very short window. Deals like these are normally open for two weeks. We really only gave five days, so that is one reason why we decided on a short extension,” said Morris.
Morris says that in addition to enquiries for an extension, some institutional investors needed time to get key people on board.
“Many took a Christmas break, and so some decision-makers were not in a position to grant the necessary approvals for funds. They are rolling in now and we want to give them time,” Morris stated.
The APO of Jamaican and US dollar shares is priced at $16.30 and US$0.14, respectively. Existing shareholders on record as of November 20 and staff will pay a discounted price of $14.70 and US$0.1270 per share.
The APO opened to the public on Friday, December 18, with an original closing date of December 23.
Sagicor Investments is the lead broker along with vendors, including Proven Investments, NCB Capital markets, JN Fund Managers and Mayberry Investments.