Jul 2013 Financial News

First Citizens expands in South America

Jul 04, 2013

The First Citizens Group plans to explore South and Central America for opportunities as it seeks to expand while awaiting approval from the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch on the T&T Stock Exchange (TTSE). So said Nyree Alfonso, chairperson for the group, in an interview with the T&T Guardian.

“The prospectus (for the Initial Public Offering) was not an issue. For any IPO we have to wait on the SEC’s approval. It’s not an issue of the prospectus being a problem, or not a problem as the case may be, it has a process to go through. The issue is before Cabinet as well to determine the share price,” she said. In January 2012, the group opened a representative office in Costa Rica. Alfonso said that office will be used to deepen the group’s footprint in other territories such as Panama and Nicaragua.

“Costa Rica has done well over the years. It’s one of the more stable countries in Latin and South America. It’s currency is stable, it has excellent growth in its economy. “Comparatively with the rest of the world it has excellent growth it has not seen a downturn per se, so we thought it was a very good platform for us,” she said.

“English is widely spoken therefore the language is not an issue. There might be opportunities in Panama with the expansion of the canal we want to think we are well-placed to team up with the international sector—World Bank, the various international banking sectors—to look at putting money there and making money there.”

Alfonso said the group is doing well given the global climate. “We, like everybody else are looking to see how we can grow the business in a positive way and we are looking to see how to increase the footprint outside of T&T—we moved into Barbados recently, we moved into Costa Rica recently, all in those hardened economic times. “We are looking for growth opportunities; we are looking for growth prospects aggressively,” she said.


Source:
Nadaleen Singh
Trinidad Guardian
Thursday July 4, 2013

http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2013-07-04/first-citizens-expands-south-america