Chairman of Carlton Savannah REIT [Jamaica] Limited, Garfield Sinclair, inserts the CREIT stock listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange board, while Fayval Williams, executive director of the real estate trust company and chairman of the JSE, Curtis Martin, look on. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer.

Carlton Savannah REIT Jamaica Limited (CSREIT), the first and only real estate investment trust company in Jamaica, yesterday listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange at a price of $5.91.

The stock, which will trade under the symbol CREIT, recorded no activity on its first day.

Take-up on the initial public offering (IPO) numbered 68.8 million shares valued at J$406.6 million, far short of its expected target of J$1.254 billion.

Luxury unit

Carlton Savannah REIT is investing the IPO proceeds in seven units of the 55-unit luxury, business-type hotel in Port-of-Spain Trinidad called the Carlton Savannah, which is said to be on the same street as the residence of Trinidadian Prime Minister, Patrick Manning.

The REIT principals had intended to buy 16 units, but the disappointing take-up of the IPO forced it to scale down those plans.

CSREIT Executive Director, Fayval Williams, says the company will pay its first dividend to its 185 shareholders in the first quarter after October, the month that construction of the hotel is expected to be finalised.

CSREIT is projecting revenue of US$1.61 million in the first year, increasing to US$1.69 million in the fiscal year 2010-11, and earning per share of US$0.01.

richard.deane@gleanerjm.com