Sterling catches the venture financing fever: ______________________
WHEN SHAREHOLDERS of Sterling Investments Limited convene on Monday to vote on the second stock split in three years, the operators of the company expect the outcome to set the stage for a strategic shift by the boutique firm.
The vote in favour of the five-for-one split would expand the company’s issued capital to more than 300 million shares; and its authorised capital to two billion ordinary shares and 10,000 preference shares.
From the additional pool, Sterling is planning to do a rights issue later this year, the proceeds from which would seed the company’s planned foray into venture financing, according to Charles Ross, president & CEO of Sterling Asset Management Limited, the operating company for Sterling Investment.
Sterling Investment listed by introduction on the Jamaica Stock Exchange in 2014 at a price at $134 per share, and now trades on both the JMD and USD platforms. The company subsequently executed a 10-for-one split in 2015, which was also followed by a rights issue. A split expands the number of shares units, while cutting the price of the stock by an equivalent ratio, with no dilution or expansion of the value of individual investors’ holdings.
“Recall that the stock price is coming from over $100. We had a split when we cross-listed on the US Dollar exchange. That was a 10:1 split and this 5:1 split will affect the volume available and hopefully the trading activity,” said Ross.
“What we’re expecting to happen now pretty much happened then, where there was an increase in trading volumes and the number of shareholders. It certainly worked then and we want to build on that.”
Using the proceeds of the rights issue, which is targeted to raise at least $600 million, Sterling plans to take equity stakes in various ventures, a trend that is gaining steam in the financial sector as a new and somewhat risky avenue of investment.
“We’ll also be looking at equity investments in the local market; that is not to say we will be buying local equities, but we’ll be looking for nascent companies — companies that are growing and in need of capital,” Ross said on Wednesday.
“They may not now be listed, but may have ambitions to list in the future,” he said.
Pressed on the timing for Sterling’s entry into venture financing, Ross says a clearer picture will emerge by December.
“When we’re finished with the rights issue before the EGM, we will go to market shortly after that. It will take about six months to do our due diligence, and so on. That will take us to about the end of the year,” he said.
Sterling aims to invest in two or three ventures per year over the medium term. As part of its exit strategy from the investments, the ventures are expected to list on the stock exchange.
The company, whose main business line is the trading of securities, including international bonds and minor equity positions in local entities, has also taken a stab at project financing.
One of its touted projects, located in St Kitts-Nevis, has not panned out as expected. Ross was cagey with the details about the hotel project — a 226suite Hilton resort, which should have opened for business in the first quarter of 2017.
The condominiums were to be sold under St Kitts’ Citizenship by Investment programme.
“There were changes to the citizenship programme down there that made it n o longer a viable option for funding. We’ve backed away from that to use traditional debt and equity to fund the completion,” Ross said, without giving the new date for the development to be finalised.
Sterling Investments is moving into venture financing at a period of positive financial performance at the firm, with its halfyear profit to June already matching the full-year earnings for 2018. Sterling also made 20 per cent more profit that the $43 million recorded in the half-year period for 2017, which the company attributed to increases in interest income and unrealised foreign exchange gains. Sterling’s assets also surpassed $1.2 billion during the quarter.