GK Capital Management Limited is playing a leading advisory role in the strategic partnership recently formed between Jamaica Fibreglass Products Limited (JFP), and the Trinidad and Tobago-based Total Office (2006) Limited.

GK Capital has also been appointed as an advisor to Total Office and is in the process of evaluating strategic capital raising opportunities for the company in the Jamaican market.

JFP is a contract furniture manufacturing company that produces a wide array of furnishings and equipment for government agencies, restaurants, and the hospitality industry in Jamaica. Total Office Group is a stationery and office equipment supplier with a distribution network spanning 14 Caribbean territories.

The partnership between JFP and Total Office is set to create a regional distribution chain for JFP and a manufacturing arm for Total Office, allowing them to expand their product offerings in the Caribbean region and beyond.

Ryan Strachan, GK Capital’s vice president of investor relations, said: “The prospect of our involvement in this partnership surfaced shortly after the oversubscribed JFP IPO in March 2022. As lead broker and arranger of that IPO, GK Capital built on our relationship with JFP to position ourselves as the Total Office Group’s financial advisor, following JFP’s signing of a Caribbean distribution agreement with them in June 2022.”

Speaking on behalf of JFP, Chief Executive Officer Metry Seaga expressed satisfaction with the partnership with Total Office, which is expected to close in July 2023.

“JFP and Total Office’s initial distribution agreement served as a precursor to our engaging GK Capital to bring our collective partnership vision to reality,” Seaga said.

“After we close this transaction, both companies will be the largest individual shareholders in each other and will have representatives on our respective boards of directors. While the two will remain as separate entities, this signals a bona fide joining of forces that bears substantial possibilities and synergies that will be unearthed in the months and years to come.”

Ryan Proudfoot, Total Office Group’s managing director, commented: “Total Office formally established a presence in Jamaica in 2019 when Steelcase Inc appointed us as their exclusive representative in the country. Since that time, JFP emerged as an ideal partner with whom we will pursue growth in the Caribbean and in this beautiful country that has performed appreciably relative to the prevailing economic uncertainty across the globe.”

Proudfoot added: “While Total Office is regional in scope and focus, we are particularly excited by our relationship with JFP and, by extension, Jamaica.”

READ: JFP expands to T&T through strategic partnership