Barita to hold position at 20% in DTL

BARITA INVESTMENTS plans to keep its position in distribution company Derrimon Trading Limited, DTL, at or near the current level of 20 per cent.

“We have no intention t o increase our shareholding to a level that triggers a disclosure requirement,” said Ramon SmallFerguson, vice-president, asset management and research at Barita, in response to Financial Gleaner queries.

Small-ferguson said that under the rules of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, if Barita i ntends to conduct purchases beyond an additional five per cent of the company, then it would require a disclosure to the exchange.

Barita now holds the secondlargest position i n Derrimon, behind founder Derrick Cotterell. The investment firm remains silent on whether it wants a seat on Derrimon’s board of directors.

“We are unable to provide specific information around this point at this time,” Small-ferguson said.

Barita’s one-fifth ownership equates to around 906 million DTL shares. The investment firm came into ownership of a portion of its holdings through the assignment of 378 million shares under the Derrimon additional public offering of shares i n January, which it arranged and brokered.

The opportunity to buy DTL shares otherwise presented itself in January when Mayberry Jamaican Equities decided to sell its holdings on the open market, but it is unclear how many, if any, of those shares Barita might have acquired.