Fontana lists on the Junior Market

• January 09 2019
• http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business-observer/fontana-lists-on-the-junior_154127

Fontana Pharmacy yesterday placed its ticker on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange after being oversubscribed by roughly four times its Initial Public Offering (IPO) target of $468 million.

The IPO, which opened at 9:00 am on Thursday, December 13, closed five minutes later.

Lead broker, Scotia Investments Limited tallied the applications to 3,406, representing 982,194,569 shares, four times more than the 249,874,965 shares Fontana was prepared to offer the general public.

The shares were priced at $1.88. Expectations were that the price would double now that Fontana has been listed, but up to press time yesterday, no units traded for the company.

Of the funds raised, $234,040,086 will go to the company and the remaining $234,037,839 will go to the selling shareholder, Burbank Holdings, which is controlled by Fontana's Chairman Emeritus Shinque (Bobby) Chang.

Fontana will use the money raised to capitalise on opportunities for improvement and expansion of the pharmacy which first opened its doors in Mandeville 50 years ago. Viewed as the leading pharmacy chain in Jamaica with five outlets across the island, Fontana is set to open its sixth location, covering 35,000 square feet, at the intersection of West King's House and Waterloo Roads in St Andrew next year. The new location will be the largest of all Fontana pharmacies.

The company is now looking to expand to Portmore, St Catherine, and in Montego Bay, St James, in addition to bolstering its online shopping platform.