Gov’t To Yield Over $12 Billion From TransJamaica Highway

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, says the Government is expected to yield more than $12 billion from transactions related to TransJamaica Highway.

Approximately $8.5 billion will be realised from the initial public offering (IPO), which closed on March 9.

In addition, $3.8 billion is to be realised later this year, when the Government sells preference shares it still owns in TransJamaica.

“For an asset that the Government did not own prior to December 2019 and only had preference shares, which were on the books for approximately $3.6 billion, the Government of Jamaica will realise [more than] $12 billion in cash this year from these series of transactions, which will be put towards acceleration of debt repayment and the Government will still own 20 per cent in TransJamaica,” Dr. Clarke noted.

He was opening the 2020/21 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (March 10).

The TransJamaica IPO, which opened February 17, was the largest in Jamaica’s history.

It attracted 36,428 applications for the eight billion shares valued $25.5 billion, which went to market.

The Government reserved shares for public sector employees whose applications totalled approximately $1.4 billion.

The initiative is in keeping with policy objectives to broaden the ownership base of the economy, and release resources for the acceleration of debt, through the listing of existing State assets on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE).