Eppley Caribbean Property Fund Limited SCC – Value Fund, CPFV, has acquired a portfolio of commercial real estate assets from JN Bank Limited in a sale and leaseback transaction valued at $4.55 billion.
The acquisition comprises 22 buildings totalling approximately 267,000 square feet and was purchased through a special purpose vehicle jointly owned by the CPFV and the Caribbean Mezzanine Fund II.
Eppley has not named the vehicle used to acquire the properties, nor has it disclosed where the properties are located. However, in a response to queries from the Financial Gleaner, Eppley Limited’s general manager, Justin Nam, said all the acquired properties are tenanted by JN Bank.
The sale comes at a time when JN itself is looking to restructure its real estate holdings, Chairman of the Jamaica National Group Elizabeth Ann Jones said, in keeping with its strategy.
The deal will also see the company owning and managing 29 buildings in Jamaica directly or through its subsidiaries.
Prior to the acquisition of the JN properties, CPFV had cut a deal with the Mahfood family-owned Rock Investments Limited to control a 50 per cent stake in Mall Plaza at Half-Way Tree in St Andrew, a popular retail shopping plaza. Rock Investments also owns the neighbouring Village Plaza.
CPFV is one of the largest listed real estate mutual funds in the Caribbean and trades on the Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago stock exchanges. At the completion of this acquisition, CPFV will own over 1.1 million square feet of tenanted, commercial real estate assets across Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad.
“This demonstrates that CPFV is a trusted partner for blue-chip companies in Jamaica and across the Caribbean looking to execute large real estate transactions,” Chairman of the Eppley Caribbean Nicholas Scott said in a press release.
Since assuming control of the fund in 2018, Eppley’s strategy has been to scale and diversify. Since then, it has more than doubled the number of buildings owned in the portfolio and diversified geographically and by sector.
CPFV generated net profit of BDS$7 million for its owners over nine months ending June. Its assets were then estimated at BDS$138 million.