Sagicor wants to sell the Blue Cross of Jamaica headquarters but has not yet made a firm decision. - rudolph brown/photographer

Health and life insurance market leader, Sagicor Life Jamaica, is shedding some of the assets it acquired when it bought Blue Cross of Jamaica for $1.7 billion last December, preferring to hold on to cash rather than a bigger property portfolio following a doubling of its half-year profit to $3.1 billion.

The Richard Byles-led company has already put 12 St Andrew apartments and two offices in Montego Bay on the market, and says it is willing to sell the former Blue Cross Hope Road, St Andrew, headquarters.

The 40,000-square foot property is of Georgian architecture.

Rohan Miller, Sagicor's vice-president of investments, told the Financial Gleaner that the Emerson Court apartments, located on Clieveden Avenue, next to the former Blue Cross corporate centre, were put up for sale earlier this year.

Sagicor is looking to pull in as much as $132 million from the sale of the two-bedroom units, which are going for between $10.5 million and $11 million each. Six have so far been sold.

"We are not in the business of managing residential estate," said Miller, explaining the disposals.

Offers welcomed

Miller has also put on the table Sagicor's willingness to part with the Blue Cross head office location at 85 Hope Road, which still has tenants.

"We do have plans to sell it. We have not formalised anything yet. If persons make an offer, we would consider it," the company execu-tive said.

Miller declined to disclose the value of the property.

A notice posted on the doors of the building advises that from May, Sagicor relocated its cashier operations and customer care unit to its Winchester Business