Stephen Facey, chief executive officer of First Jamaica and Pan Jamaican Investment Trust. - File

First Jamaica Investment (FJI), the real-estate developer and property management company that has access to US$25 million in World Bank money to finance projects in Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean, says it is still hunting for the kinds of deals that will entice it to call on the cash.

"It is no secret that we are out looking opportunities for investment, whether in real or other corporate entities," FJI's Managing Director, Stephen Facey, told the Financial Gleaner on Wednesday.

But while he conceded that that FJI had specific projects in mind, Facey declined to say what these were.

"When I tell the shareholders, I will tell you and everybody else," he said.

Large ownership

First Jamaica Investment, which is listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, is owned 73 per cent by Pan Jamaican Investment Trust (PanJam), another publicly traded company that is controlled by the Facey family with a 47 per cent stake.

In June, the International Financial Corporation (IFC), the World Bank subsidiary that lends to the private sector, approved the US$25 million (J$1.8 billion) to FJI not for a specific deal, but to provide it with "the flexibility to bid and develop real-estate projects as they materialise."

Up to US$7.5 million or 30 per cent of the loan may be used as "quasi equity" in FJI, although the precise terms for this was not immediately available.

First Jamaica Investment's main operating business is Jamaica Property Company (JPC) that used to be a direct subsidiary of PanJam before its reorganisation earlier in the decade. The Faceys, through their various vehicles, were the major developers of New Kingston, the Jamaican capital's corporate business district.

While Stephen Facey - who has assumed day-to-day responsibility for the family business from father Maurice Facey - declined to discuss the projects that were on the drawing board, public IFC documents indicated that residential and commercial properties in Kingston were under consideration.

"JPC is currently considering developing a number of residential and commercial real-estate projects in Kingston as well as upgrading of their existing properties," an IFC website posting said.

Jamaica Property Company's largest major development was the multi-storey building at Knutsford Boulevard in New Kingston that houses FirstCaribbean Jamaica's corporate headquarters.

The IFC said that there was "strong demand for modern middle-income housing" in Kingston as well as the need to upgrade and develop "high-quality commercial and retail space", which this loan would help to address.

Strong focus

However, Facey stressed, as the IFC document noted, that its focus was not only on Jamaica for opportunities.

"We have been in discussions with the IFC for two years for this facility for undertaking investments here and elsewhere in the Caribbean," Facey said.

He suggested, however, that FJI was in no rush to jump into ventures, especially in the face of the raging global financial meltdown and credit crisis that is likely to cause economic slowdown in the Caribbean.

"We are trying to make sure the company is prudently managed so that we weather all the storms," Facey said.

business@gleanerjm.com