Susan Gordon, Business Reporter

Ryland Campbell, chairman and chief executive officer of Capital and Credit Financial Group, places his company's name on the trading board of the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE), at a listing ceremony held May 14. At left is Wentworth Graham, JSE's chief regulatory officer. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Ryland Campbell's Capital and Credit Financial Group Limited (CCFG) needs equity to expand, and will be tapping the market for $1 billion to $1.5 billion.

CCFG plans to raise the funds through a placement of preference shares.

Swap of shares

The group last week listed 927,565,945 ordinary shares on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, essentially taking the place of its merchant banking arm on the board via a swap of shares which gave Capital and Credit Merchant Bank (CCMB) stockholders six CCFG shares for every five units of the merchant bank's stock, plus a bonus issue of CCMB preference shares.

The merchant bank simultaneously delisted its ordinary 641.16 million ordinary shares and listed 42,743,978 newly created preference units.

The stocks were simultaneously listed on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange.

Campbell said at the listing ceremony that CCFG would be back in the market in the third quarter - which would time it between July and September - for new funds that would finance plans to grow the company's markets.

Alliance with regional organisations

"For us to grow, we want to develop some type of alliance with regional organisations, by whatever shape or form, and build out from there," he said, adding that CCFG was looking to Trinidad and Florida for new business prospects.

He also said it was the group's intention to apply for listing of the prefs on the JSE, and that the new placement was deliberately kept separate from the restructuring plans just concluded.

"It would have been clumsy, as you were dealing with existing shareholders," said Campbell, "it would cloud the issue for the shares."

susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com