http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20181205/canadian-mortgage-company-aims-raise-us10m-jse

EquityLine Mortgage Investments Corporation, a Canadian mortgage company that finances projects traditionally ignored by mortgagors, will seek to raise US$10 million in a preference share offer that opens in Kingston on December 10.

The start-up company aims to list on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE), and subsequently, on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

EquityLine is offering five million preference shares at US$2 each on the Jamaican market, with an option to upsize the offer. On the overseas market, it will seek to raise an additional US$20 million.

The funds will allow the company to acquire portfolios of mortgage assets worth nearly the value of the sums it raises from the market. In 2017, EquityLine Financial, which is an entity affiliated with the corporation, funded over US$38 million in private mortgages, and its mortgage book towers at US$175 million.

The prefs floated in Jamaica will pay dividend of eight per cent per annum.

EquityLine’s offer is the second overseas venture, outside the Caribbean, aiming to list shares on the local market, following the announcement of the initial public offer of shares in MPC Clean Energy, which opens to the market this week. Last year, Cable Bahamas Limited also listed two sets of preference shares on the JSE.

EquityLine forecasts revenue of US$4.6 million in 2019, which it projects to grow to US$27.4 million in 2023.

“The corporation will seek to invest in mortgages that combine the highest yields and lowest loan to value ratios it can source,” stated the company, which says its geographic focus includes the Greater Toronto area and Ottawa with the possibility of extending throughout Canada.

The offer in Jamaica is being brokered by Sagicor Investments Jamaica. Subscriptions open next week and run to December 31.