By Al Edwards, Business Co-ordinatorPRESIDENT AND Chief Executive Officer of Pan Jamaican Investment Trust, Mr. Richard Byles is to be appointed as the new President and Chief Executive Officer of life insurance company, Life of Jamaica (LoJ) and is expected to take up the position in March, The Gleaner understands.
The incumbent head boss at LoJ, Maxine MacLure will now head a company in Florida controlled by LoJ's parent Sagicor.
Over the last few weeks media reports have claimed that Mr. Byles was to move up the road at Knutsford Boulevard to take over the reigns of the rehabilitated LoJ. Mrs. MacLure vehemently asserted that she was here to stay, that she loved Jamaica and had no intention of vacating her position anytime soon.
APPOINTMENT
Speaking with The Gleaner last night Mrs. MacLure said: "I have been appointed as the President and CEO of Capital International Management, a subsidiary of Sagicor based in the United States. I will be doing the same thing I have done in Jamaica- looking to make acquisitions and put ailing companies back on their feet. Mr. Richard Byles, Pan Jam's CEO will succeed me and I wish him the very best. I really would have loved to remain in Jamaica but this position presents new challenges."
Earlier this month Mr. Byles was appointed the new chairman of Pan Caribbean Financial Services, the name of the new entity created from the merger of Pan Caribbean Financial Services (PCFS) and Manu-facturers Investments Limited (MIL), the parent company of Manufacturers Sigma Merchant Bank (MSMB). He has said that the fundamental strategy of the new group is to expand its
operations into other Caribbean territories
Mr. Byles who is also the chairman of the National Water Commission (NWC) recently oversaw the merger of Harware & Lumber (H&L) and Rapid & Sheffield to form the largest wholesaler and retailer of hardware and home improvement and agricultural products in Jamaica and will command sales in excess of $4 billion annually.
At the 2001 Annual General Meeting of the Pan Jam Group, Richard Byles challenged his management team to produce $1 billion of profits for its share holders by 2006. This target requires a 25 per cent growth in profits each year by all of Pan Jam subsidiaries.
SHAREHOLDER VALUE
Mr. Byles is renown for returning shareholder value and for the last five years Pan Jam has increased profits by an average of 47 per cent each year. These results have been produced through a series of acquisitions, mergers and divestments that have transformed the Group from a sprawling conglomerate involved in everything from beef rearing to tourism, horticulture to manufacturing, to its focus on four core competencies - insurance (FirstLife), banking (Pan Caribbean), property (Jamaica Property) and trading (Harware & Lumber).
FUNCTIONS
Back in July 2002, a joint venture between First Life Insurance and LoJ was formed that sees both companies carrying out administrative functions to support the group life, health, annuity, personal accident and pension businesses of both insurance companies. This was done in an effort to reduce costs and pool resources.
First Life had made a bid of J$1.2 billion to acquire LoJ in 2001 but lost out to Barbados Mutual now, Sagicor.
Mrs. MacLure came from FINSAC and succeeded Denis Lalor as the head of LoJ. She is credited with doing a very good job in turning around the fortunes of the country's largest life insurance player, overseeing the merger with Island Life and posting an unaudited net profit for the nine month period ended September 30,2003 of $724.8 million as against $400 million for the comparative period in 2002. She has been instrumental in boosting LoJ's investments portfolio as it looks to post profits of $1 billion this year.
