Barita Investments to be de-listed from Jamaica Stock Exchange

By Javaughn Keyes 

 

Barita Investments will be delisting from the Jamaica Stock Exchange, as part of its parent company's re-organization exercise.

 

This comes after the Bank of Jamaica gave the greenlight for Cornerstone United Holdings Jamaica to restructure the Cornerstone Group of Companies, of which Barita is a member.

 

The proposed plan to remove the shares of Barita from the Jamaica Stock Exchange comes after the Bank of Jamaica raised no objection to a proposed re-organization of Cornerstone group. This is in a bid to address a regulatory concern, linked to the parallel ownership of Cornerstone Trust & Merchant Bank and Barita Investments Limited by Cornerstone shareholders.

 

Cornerstone says, under the proposed new structure, Cornerstone Trust Mutual Bank, Barita and Barita Unit Trust Management Company, will be held under Cornerstone United Holdings Jamaica, which will see a new company being formed for this purpose. 

 

Barita's shares will be delisted from the Jamaica Stock Exchange, and shares of the financial holding company will be listed in its place. 

 

Also, as a part of the proposed changes, Cornerstone Financial Holdings Limited will assume the assets and liabilities of Cornerstone United Holdings Jamaica (CUHJL).

 

The shares held by CUHJL in Cornerstone Trust Mutual Bank (CTMB) and Cornerstone USA will be transferred to the new merged vehicle. 

 

Existing shareholders who own an equal number of shares in each of the Cornerstone entities, will own one set of shares in Cornerstone Financial Holdings, post merger.

 

At the end of the process, Cornerstone United Holdings Jamaica will become the direct parent of Barita and CTMB.

 

Cornerstone Financial Holdings Limited will then become the ultimate holding company for the Group.

 

As a key part of the process, Cornerstone says an application will be made to the Supreme Court for meetings to be had with shareholders of the companies in the group that will be reorganized, for a vote on the Scheme to be executed.

 

Cornerstone says it will share more information with its stakeholders regarding the progress of the reorganization, at an appropriate time.