Sagicor seeks $300 million in bond offer

Sagicor Financial Company Ltd is about to raise US $150 million (BDS$300 million) in a special bond offering that will be paying 5.3 per cent interest and matures in seven years.

The announcement came yesterday from the former Barbadian-owned financial services company, which is now a Canada-based publicly listed company, trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

In a statement, Sagicor disclosed that the net proceeds raised from this issue of Senior Notes will be used exclusively to build out its United States operations which have seen an increasingly profitable segment of Sagicor’s operations.

Senior Notes are a type of bond which takes priority over other debts of a company in the event that it had to declare bankruptcy and was forced into liquidation. These notes typically pay less interest than other bonds and they have a shorter maturity.

According to Sagicor, not everyone will get an opportunity to invest in the debt instrument which is expected to be open to qualified investors from December 15.

The company disclosed that the new US$150 million instruments will result in Sagicor reopening its original US$400 million initial notes which closed last May.

This new debt will be guaranteed by Sagicor Life Inc which joined Sagicor Financial Company in a note purchase agreement with J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and RBC Capital Markets.

“The Additional Notes would only be offered to “qualified institutional buyers” as defined in Rule 144A under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or to non-United States persons in ‘offshore transactions’ outside the United States in accordance with Regulations thereunder and applicable local securities laws,” Sagicor said in the statement.

“The securities have not been and will not be registered under the Act, any Canadian securities laws, any state securities laws or any securities laws of any other jurisdiction.

  “The Additional Notes may not be offered or sold in the United States or to United States persons absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Act.  The Additional Notes may be sold in Canada only to purchasers purchasing, or deemed to be purchasing, as principal that are accredited investors, as defined in National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions or subsection 73.3(1) of the Securities Act (Ontario), and are permitted clients, as defined in National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations,” Sagicor said in the statement from its Toronto headquarters. (IMC1)