Eppley, AS Bryden form joint venture

Eppley Caribbean Property Fund, ECPF, has invested BDS$4.7 million (US$2.35 million) in a joint venture in Trinidad & Tobago with AS Bryden Group.

“The investment in joint venture is ECPF’s investment in ECPF Industrial Holdings Limited,” Eppley Caribbean Chairman Nicholas Scott told the Financial Gleaner.

“ECPF Industrial is owned 50/50 by ECPF and AS Bryden,” Scott said.

He explained that ECPF Industrial’s sole asset, which is “currently under construction”, will house a modern distribution facility in central Trinidad. Scott did not go into details on the size of the facility.

ECPF is controlled by Jamaican investment company Eppley Limited. The ECPF Value Fund, which is listed on the stock market in Jamaica as well as Barbados, holds over 20 real estate tenanted properties across the Caribbean, with assets valued at B$185 million (US$92 million).

For its first quarter ending December 2024, the Value Fund generated profit of BDS$1 million compared to BDS$1.05 million a year earlier due to non-cash foreign exchange losses, the company stated.

“We anticipate an increase in performance in future quarters as strategic initiatives begin to bear fruit,” EPCF said.

AS Bryden Group operates a distribution company in Trinidad & Tobago and is majority owned by Jamaican company Seprod Limited.

AS Bryden also reported a TT$12.5 million (US$1.8 million) investment in joint venture activities in its December financials. But there was no immediate comment from CEO Richard Pandohie.

Both Eppley and AS Bryden and Sons Holdings have Paul B Scott as directors in common. And Seprod and AS Bryden are part of the Musson Group, a Kingston-based conglomerate for which Scott is CEO and chairman.

AS Bryden holds assets valued at TT$2.2 billion.

steven.jackson@gleanerjm.com