Sabrina N. Gordon, Business Reporter

Phillip Osbourne, chief financial officer of Sagicor Financial Corporation, carefully inserts the company's strip on the Jamaica Stock Exchange listing board yesterday. With him is Sandra Osborne, executive vice-president, general counsel and secretary of Sagicor Financial Corporation. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Sagicor Financial Cor-poration (SFC), one of the region's oldest insurance companies, yesterday crosslisted on the Jamaica Stock Exchange at a price of $244.11, joining its local subsidiaries Sagicor Life Jamaica and Pan Caribbean as a publicly traded company in this market.

The SFC stock traded 10,000 units on its first day, closing down eleven cents at $244.

"We are pleased to add Sagicor Financial Corporation to our board as a cross-listed security," said JSE general manager, Marlene Street Forrest.

"We have noticed that the security has traded well on the international boards, and expect that the same will occur in the Jamaican market."

Sagicor Financial is now listed in four markets - Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados and London.

It is primarily traded on the Barbados Stock Exchange, its home market, where it was listed in 2004.

Rebranding

The listing of Sagicor Financial Corporation comes behind the rebranding of LOJ to Sagicor Life Jamaica, and the conversion of Pan Caribbean into a commercial bank, two of the company's major subsidiaries, whose strong performance have kept Jamaica as the top geographic segment in the Sagicor group.

Jamaica, last year, accounted for US$1.1 billion of group assets, valued at US$3.7 billion, but also contributed the biggest chunk of earnings to the group.

For the year ended December 2007, Jamaica net approximately US$45.8 million, representing a 42 per cent cut of the group profit of US$108.7 million.

For the year, the group generated net premium revenue of US$430.4 million, of which Jamaica contributed 39 per cent.

Strategy

"Our listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange is an integral part of our business strategy," said Sandra Obsorne, executive vice president and general counsel for Sagicor Financial.

"It provides us with access to one of the more sophisticated and liquid capital markets in the Caribbean, and underscores the importance of our Jamaica operations to the future success of the Sagicor Group,"

Added Philip Osborne, chief financial officer for the group: "We believe that Jamaican operations are quite excellent."

Sagicor Financial, which has a market capitalisation of US$498 million, operates in the life, property and casualty insurance market, banking and asset management business and property development.

Its companies span the Caribbean, United Kingdom and the United States.

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com