Sterling Investments
The Jamaica Central Securities Depository (JCSD) finds itself in another fiasco regarding the issue of new shares, following the mess up of the recent Seprod share issue where amounts originally allocated to investors were changed.
The latest mess is the documentation and their dispatch for the rights issue of Sterling Investments shares. The notice for the issue that opened on January 4 and closes on January 11, was only posted on January 3, clearly late for some investors.
The lateness of course is a problem the company could easily fix by extending the deadline date. So far, no official position to extend the deadline date, has been taken. The latest bit of information reaching IC Insider.com, suggests that the date will have to be pushed back.
Two documents were sent to shareholders. A cover letter, describing the issue and mentioning that shareholders can apply for excess shares over their allotment. The application forms sent did not include the page for shareholders to
The Jamaica Stock Exchnage subsidiary
apply for excess shares (page 4). That of course is not the only problem with the forms. In addition, part of page 1 with instructions is missing, also cut off are sections of pages 2 and 5. In short, the application forms included reflects a level of sloppiness in its execution and does not reflect well on those responsible for the job.
It unclear how the company and the JCSD will deal with the matter, but it appears that the proper way would be the sending of the corrected forms to shareholders and extend the deadline date.
The capital market needs to clean up its act if it is not loose credibility.
