As Guyana’s fast-growing oil and gas business profile continues to serve as a magnet for foreign investment, the country continues to be eyed by both the extra-regional business community as well as regional businesses as a priority place of interest for eagle-eyed potential investors. Contextually, the Wednesday May 31 Jamaica Observer is reporting that the SAGICOR Group Jamaica Ltd. (SJ) is seeking to “plant its flag further across the region” and has taken aim at Guyana, “as it looks to replicate the success of its Grupo SAGICOR GS, GA in other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.”
The standout feature of SAGICOR has been its region-wide reputation in the insurance industry over its century-odd existence. Beyond that, it has earned a region-wide reputation across a broader suite in the hemisphere as a whole since its establishment, including through the Barbados Mutual Life Assurance Society. Now, the company is seeking to plant its flag further across the region, including Guyana, where the country’s major oil finds and attendant investment prospects have made it an enticing target for would-be investors, globally. In targeting Guyana, SAGICOR is seeking to replicate its considerable successes elsewhere in the wider Latin America and the Caribbean.
SAGICOR opened its first branch outside Barbados, in St. Vincent in 1840. The company’s Caribbean ‘journey’ continued across what is now the CARICOM Region with permanent stops in Grenada and Trinidad in 1858. St. Kitts in 1861, Antigua and Montserrat opened in 1863. These were followed with initial modest investments in Guyana in 1866, Dominica in 1868, St. Lucia in 1888 and then in Jamaica in 1896. What is now the SAGICOR Group Jamaica Limited (SJ) is taking a ‘second look’ at Guyana, its rekindled interest having arisen out of word around the entire region that the country’s new oil-driven economy is wide open for meaningful investment.
The financial conglomerate is turning its attention to Guyana having, according to the Observer story, been “steadily building out its operations” notably in the Cayman Islands” as well as its SAGICOR Costa Rica operations where “earnings peaked in 2021 when it earned $5.52 billion in revenue and derived $1.22 billion in net profit as COVID-19 insurance requirements drove business activity.” “We’re looking at Guyana and we’ve sent two missions there and we have established partnerships and relationships there,” SAGICOR Group president and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Christopher Zacca is quoted as saying during the company’s recent Annual General Meeting of the company.
SAGICOR’s stated interest in probing the Guyana market comes, according to the Observer report “at time when its parent company, SAGICOR Financial Company Limited (SFC), is also aiming to “expand its presence in North America with the planned acquisition of Ivari in Canada and opening of SAGICOR Bank (Barbados) Limited this year,” as part of its broader business plan, going forward.
