Sygnus, the leading alternative investments firm in the Caribbean, stands unwavering in its commitment to support the battle against breast cancer, the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths. On Tuesday, October 10, 2023, the firm made a generous donation of J$500,000 to the Jamaica Cancer Society (JCS) and its affiliated organisation, Jamaica Reach To Recovery (JR2R).

Acrecent Financial Corporation, a leader in financing solutions for small and medium-sized businesses in Puerto Rico, is pleased to announce its 20th anniversary, a moment to celebrate its contribution to the growth and strengthening of the local economy.

(Kingston, Jamaica) Members of the Sygnus team on Tuesday, May 9, 2023 in observance of Read Across Jamaica Day and in celebration of Child Month, journeyed to the John Mills Infant Primary and Junior High School, as well as the Riverton Meadows Early Childhood Centre, where they engaged the children in educational and fun-filled activities. 

Visiting the different classes, members of the team sat with students reading stories from an array of books including, but were not limited to local author Kellie Magnus’ Little Lion Goes To School and young local author Sapphire Cadogan’s The Magical Fruits. The team also enjoyed leisure time with the children, engaging them in outdoor playground activities such as ring games.

In a handover ceremony, the Sygnus team presented the children with an assortment of books and educational games for their reading corners. John Mills was also presented with a new printer for their main office. Following this, the team in honour of Teacher’s Day, taking place on Wednesday, May 10, gifted teachers with a celebratory cake and special gifts.

The Riverton Meadows Early Childhood Centre, one of the four centres run by the St. Patrick’s Foundation – an organisation which Sygnus has supported for the last 5 years, expressed their gratitude to the Sygnus team, presenting the firm with a certificate of appreciation.

“The team is very happy and honoured to once again be a part of such a significant national initiative. We respect and applaud the efforts of our teachers who work tirelessly to establish a solid foundation of reading for our children. Here at Sygnus we believe in the importance of reading and how life-changing that can be. It was really an opportunity for us to take part in ensuring our children, who are the future of our country, are equipped and have access to additional educational resources. So we not only donated books by some great Jamaican authors, but educational games as well. We definitely had fun interacting with the children from both John Mills and Riverton. We hope that we were able to inspire the children to find the fun and gains in reading,” shared Renee Rickards, Marketing Manager at Sygnus.

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About Sygnus

Sygnus is the leading alternative investment management company in the Caribbean and Latin America, spanning private credit, real estate, and private equity.  Sygnus manages Sygnus Credit Investments Limited (SCI) (80 Lady Musgrave Road) which is listed on the JSE and the largest Private Credit Investment company in the English-Speaking Caribbean. SCI is a pioneering private credit investment company, which offers creative debt financing to middle market businesses across the Caribbean. Sygnus Real Estate Finance Limited (SRF) provides flexible capital (Debt or Equity) to all classes of real estate assets (commercial, industrial, or residential). Sygnus Deneb Investments Limited (SDI) invests private equity capital in companies in the form of growth capital, buyouts, and turnarounds. The Sygnus Group also includes Acrecent Financial Corporation in Puerto Rico, a non-bank financial institution that provides asset-backed loans and leases to SMEs in Puerto Rico. Sygnus also offers its clients Investment Banking and Wealth Advisory..

Sygnus Deneb Investments Limited announced its investment in Caribbean Marine Investments (“CMI”), based in St. Maarten and Guadeloupe that operate in the maritime industry in the Caribbean.

With over US$170 million in funded deals on its book, Sygnus Credit Investment Limited is looking to nearly double the portfolio to US$300 million over the next three years.

The private provider of credit financing solutions is already running well ahead of target on deals struck – having initially set its goal at US$100 million by 2023. It hit that marker towards the end of 2021.

Key to the new goal of adding US$130 million more to its pile of deals is the ongoing scaling up of its Puerto Rican subsidiary, Acrecent, Sygnus Group Executive Vice-President and Chief Investment Officer Jason Morris said this week at the Sygnus Credit’s annual general meeting. Sygnus Credit is managed by Sygnus Capital.

Sygnus owns 93.66 per cent of Acrecent Financial Corporation, which was acquired for US$23.3 million. Since its purchase, Acrecent’s fixed assets and workforce have been integrated into the operations of Sygnus Credit, which was completed in July 2022, with other elements of the amalgamation set to be finalised in a few months, Morris said.

Sygnus will next seek to expand Acrecent’s footprint in Latin American, in order to tap into a US$100-billion market.

Morris told the Financial Gleaner that US$70 million of the deals currently on the books relates to business done by Acrecent.

He also disclosed that Sygnus has more than US$100 million of prospective deals lined up, referred to as a ‘deal pipeline’, across the English and Dutch Caribbean, and is looking to finance them through quasi-debt or other fundraising.

Morris did not rule out the possibility of a rights issue for Sygnus Credit Investments, which has been listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange since June 2018, and had its biggest capital raise by way of an additional public offering in December 2021 that scored nearly $4 billion.

Regarding revenue generation, Morris says SCI will be introducing new income streams, which would potentially include acting as a sponsor of new private credit solutions.

“What we can do is to syndicate some of these pipeline deals by bringing in other willing partners, rather than do the deal ourselves. Then we could collect a fee, rather than rely solely on net interest income,” he said.

The company earned annual revenue of US$8.25 million last year, and wants to go beyond US$12.5 million in this fiscal period ending June 2023.

“This is not to say that the target is US$12.5 million; rather, this should be seen as a minimum, so if we get to US$15 million, or even US$18 million, we would be okay with that,” Morris said.

So far, the company’s first-quarter revenue of $2.27 million, when annualised, amounts to US$9 million, which puts Sygnus behind the eight ball on its revenue goal so far.

Profit for the period July-September 2022 improved by eight per cent to US$1.63 million.

Jamaica Gleaner