Roots Financial buys into concrete firm
Kevin Donaldson’s Roots Financial Group continues to deepen its fairly recent foray into private equity investing and says it has now acquired a 20 per cent stake in Amazing Concrete Finishes, ACF Limited, a decorative and premix concrete company, for an undisclosed sum. As with some of its previous investments, Roots Financial is looking not just to buy into companies it sees as having significant potential, but is strategically positioning those business for expansion in Jamaica and the Caribbean region.
“Roots injected new capital into ACF to fuel its regional expansion plans as well as growth into additional verticals,” Donaldson, Roots’ director, said in a release on Thursday.
The goal of the transaction is to position ACF for transformational growth, he said, with the target markets for expansion being Trinidad, Guyana, and Florida in the United States. The expansion activities are already under way in these locations, Donaldson indicated. Roots will also serve as financial and strategic adviser to ACF as it builds out its vision. The transaction was arranged by Roots, with legal services provided by Patterson Mair Hamilton and TWP Attorneys.
Roots Financial Group started operations in January 2022 as a private equity investment holding company.
“Much more than money, strategic partnership is what is most important to us here at Amazing Concrete. The synergy between ourselves and Roots is what is necessary to bring our vision of being the premier decorative concrete company in Jamaica and, by extension, the region,” said Yannick Sharpe, founder and CEO of ACF in the release.
“We had numerous offers on the table, but Roots is the partnership we decided to go with,” he added.
ACF was incorporated in 2015 but operated as a sole trader since 2011, with offices on Dunrobin Avenue, Kingston. The company provides concrete beautification treatments by staining, stamping, texturing, polishing and other similar type finishes. It also distributes Elite Crete Systems and Solomon Colors Inc products.
Donaldson, a former CEO of Sagicor Investments, in February announced that his new investment vehicle had bought a 42 per cent stake in tech company Powell Interactive, which operates QuickCart online delivery business, for $92 million. The Roots Financial boss said at the time that the company had already invested in five other businesses, facilitating in the process more than US$17 million in transaction value. Those companies include fintech WiPay Jamaica, export marketplace Carib Shopper, and education technology platform EduFocal, which recently listed on the junior market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.