Jamalco to get enlisted at Jamaica Stock Exchange

The Noble Group has formed a treaty with the Jamaican Government to reorganise the assets and operations of alumina refinery Jamalco into a holding company that will raise equity capital on the stock market.

The unnamed company is expected to list on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, JSE.

Noble Group said in its newly released financial results: “After the year-end, Noble and the Government of Jamaica agreed to put their respective interests in Jamalco into a newly incorporated Jamaican company which will own and operate the assets and business going forward,”

Jamalco is owned 55% by Hong Kong-based Noble Group and 45% by Jamaica through Clarendon Alumina Production, CAP.

The nation’s economic reform programme with the IMF, Jamaica had committed to divest its holdings in CAP and was said to have chosen the stock market as the route it would pursue privatisation. Jamalco is CAP’s major asset.

Presently the alumina refinery is operated as a joint venture between CAP and General Alumina Jamaica, which is owned by Noble Group.

The benefits of assimilating the new holding company include the restructuring of the Government’s debt obligations to the joint venture and would see Jamalco conducting direct alumina sales, with Noble providing marketing agency support. The new holding company would also be able to raise its long-term debt and working capital rather than relying solely on shareholder funding.

Noble Group has communicated that it will back Jamalco with up to US$48.7 million in working capital as the need emerges.

Noble in its latest market filings quoted: “The new company will have the ability to raise new capital and will form part of the Jamaican Government’s ongoing privatisation programme, with an initial public offering being planned in due course.”

However, Jamalco had a challenging year in the face of falling alumina prices even before the mining sector’s fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.