CHAIRMAN OF local finance house Dehring, Bunting and Golding (DB&G) Peter Bunting and the Minister for Finance and Planning Dr. Omar Davies will be in Trinidad & Tobago today for the launch of DB&G's Unit Trust funds there as well as the announcement of the cross listing of its shares on the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE).
The cross listing and launch, which is being facilitated by a Trinidadian financial player, takes place at the Crowne Plaza in Port of Spain.
President of DB&G, Garfield Sinclair, revealed that guests would hear DB&G's growth story, from a boutique financial firm that started in 1992 to one of the larger securities dealers in Jamaica.
With the launch and cross listing, DB&G's goals are clear. "We intend to give the average investor the same kind of advantages large corporations have, by offering them an opportunity to invest in the Jamaican economy through our unit trust fund," said Mr. Sinclair. "The TCLs, the RBTTs, and the Guardian Holdings' of this world have obviously seen something about the Jamaican economy with which they are enamoured. We believe that not only the big guys should take advantage of our expanding economy."
Two of the more popular funds that will be introduced to the local investing public are the Money Market Fund (MMF) and the Premium Growth Fund (PGF). The MMF, one of the best performing fixed income Unit Trust funds in Jamaica, will be recommended to local investors interested in gaining a positive rate of return in the short-term (90 days to 1 year). It takes advantage of the after-tax effects of not withholding taxes on invested funds.
The PGF, combines Caribbean equities and money market instruments, and will be offered to investors for the medium-term (1 to 5 years). The PGF provides a cushion against volatile movements in the stock market, as well as liquidity, with a solid, fixed income portfolio.
DB&G has already had a major effect on the Jamaican capital market, with assignments involving multifaceted stock and bond issues, privatisation and financial advisory services, mergers and acquisitions as well as syndicated loans. These transactions have given the investment firm the high public profile and credibility that it enjoys in Jamaica today and which it intends to extend throughout the Eastern Caribbean. DB&G will become the fourth Jamaican financial firm to list in Trinidad.
