GraceKennedy's CEO Douglas Orane and his deputy Don Wehby will oversee the new company as board directors. - File

GraceKennedy's 90 per cent acquisition of the ONE1 Financial brokerage was near a $170 million deal, informed sources say, and there are plans by the conglomerate's investment arm to stamp the business with the First Global brand.

The two-year-old brokerage, is to be renamed First Global Financial Services of Trinidad and Tobago, Wednesday Business has learned.

GK Investments CEO Don Wehby was not prepared to comment on the renaming, but said the new company had big plans to take on markets in the wider Caribbean and had crafted a team to get it done.

The company has a new board, headed by GraceKennedy group chief executive Douglas Orane as chairman, and including Wehby as deputy chair, regional businessman and GK director Joseph Esau, and Mark Singh, a former managing director of RBTT Merchant Bank the company's co-founder and current chief executive.

"We have a strong board in place," said Wehby on Tuesday. "We are optimistic about the future plans. ONE1 Financial is going to be a big contributor to GraceKennedy."

ONE1 Financial was started in March 2005 by a group of five young bankers who formerly worked within the RBTT Financial Group, operating largely as a deal arranger whose biggest job, according to Wednesday Business sources, topped US$100 million.

Other transactions the brokerage has handled include the sale of Courts' Caribbean business to the Siman brothers, and another for a large insurance company.

Wehby said GK Investments was alerted to the company by one of its agents hired to seek out prospects that are good fits with the company's strategy of taking on wider markets. The acquisition was effected through First Global Holdings, a subsidiary of the First Global Group. The conglomerate's investment arm is more than 80 per cent of the total operation, said Wehby.

"GK has said that if we are going to remain in banking and investment, we must have a presence in Trinidad," said Wehby who is also deputy chief executive of the GraceKennedy group.

ONE1 Financial's management team comprises Singh as the boss, risk management expert Jason Clarke, Angus Young and Brian Ramshimir. Going forward, the team will be seeking out new business across the wider Caribbean, said Wehby.

It is expected that its functions will mimic the FGFS operations in Jamaica, which cover equity trading, pension fund-management, asset and portfolio management, and corporate finance and advisory services.

lavern.clarke@gleanerjm.com