Chairman of Mayberry Investments, Christopher Berry (right), listens keenly to a point being made by former FirstCaribbean International Bank's Country Manager Raymond Campbell at one of Mayberry's Investor Seminar, held at the Knutsford Court Hotel last November. -Winston Sill phto
Dennise Williams, Staff Reporter
"IT IS well timed on their part, which is to be expected." This is the sentiment expressed by one financial analyst in regard to Mayberry Investment Limited's announcement of its intention to list on the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
Mayberry, headed by Christopher Berry, one of Jamaica's premier investment managers, placed this notice on their website, "Mayberry is to have its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the first quarter of this year."
In essence, Mayberry will sell part ownership in the company to investors through equity securities or stocks.
Mayberry says that its listing is timely because of its current growth projection and plans for expansion.
GROWTH
"The company has grown both physically and through its operations. However, growth has to be supported by certain strategies and therefore the directors have decided to sell some stock to raise capital needed for major expansion programmes," advised the company on its website.
And Mayberry says that it will be "be expanding its services regionally and internationally through the use of sophisticated technologies."
While its IPO is slated for the first quarter of the year, the company has been very tight-lipped about elaborating on listings.
But, according to an unnamed source in the financial sector, investors can expect the prospectus to be rolling off the press by the end of February.
Interestingly, since late January, rumours have been swirling that a private placement would offer preferential share prices to Mayberry clients, and that smaller investors would be priced out of the market, however, Wednesday Business could not confirm these conjectures from any Mayberry executives.
INFORMED SOURCE
But an informed source in the industry says the final pricing of the shares depends on what Mayberry wants to do. "He (Mr. Berry) could price at $1 per share or even $100. But pricing high would keep out small investors. I would say a price of $10 would not price people out and provide a wider distribution of shares.
"What I do believe is that Christopher is targeting his larger clients to buy up blocks of shares before offering them to the general public."
Nonetheless, the mood is upbeat in the financial community. Most of the industry personnel with whom Wednesday Business spoke reacted very positively to this announcement although their endorsements came anonymously.
Enthused, an analyst at a major commercial bank stated, "This will be huge. Christopher [Berry] is going to make a lot of money from this deal, and so will we. This IPO will no doubt be oversubscribed."
An executive commented that, "Chris will make a success of this and we can make money in the medium term."
Although Wednesday Business was not able to contact Mr. Berry before press time, sources close to the company did express confidence that the listing of shares on the stock market would be successful.
"I will say that the market is very receptive to new stock issues as was evident from both the issues of Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) & Capital & Credit Merchant Bank (CCMB) in 2003. And this would be no different for Mayberry, presenting a distinct advantage to early entrants to the IPO. Interest has been very high for the IPO and this will be preceded by a private placement. "
FOUNDED
Mayberry Investments was founded twenty years ago by Maurice Berry and is still managed by his children. In December 2004, the company appointed attorney-at-law, Benito Palomino, as its first independent director.
Mayberry has created a niche for itself over the decades as a lead underwriter for several companies that are currently trading on the stock exchange such as CCMB and Dehring Bunting & Golding.
The company is also known for catering to a high net worth client base, comprising the fabled 'five percent' of our society with homes in Jamaica, Miami and the Cayman Islands.
Additionally, Mayberry has over the years consistently held their very popular Investor Seminars that brings corporate executives and politicians up close and personal to Mayberry clients.
Recently, the company has enhanced its website with a real time stock ticker.
Wednesday Business was told by a Mayberry employee, "The stock ticker was put in to hopefully build interest in the market, especially with the hours being extended, so we would hope that potential investors would see Mayberry as the broker of choice providing the public with the necessary tools to operate their portfolios, and therefore, join us as clients."
