Durrant Pate/Contributor

The Portland Caribbean Fund III-managed Jamaican listed investment company, Portland JSX is expecting to get more seeded funding by October this year for investment purposes.

PCF III, which started last year with a first close on US$100 million of capital commitments from leading, global institutional investors with a final close expected by October, which will increase the size of the fund even further. This commitment will provide the company with continued access to high-quality, growth-oriented businesses throughout the Caribbean Basin.

PCF III was started on September 28, 2023 and has made no investments to date. This new fund by Portland JSX was started after PCF II completed its investment cycle and the portfolio fully built out. 

Time ripe for PCF III to grow

Historically, growth equity funds such as PCF III benefit when the balance or ratio between the supply of capital is less than the demand for capital by growth companies. In late 2020, the global supply of growth capital outweighed demand leading to the size of capital rounds ballooning and valuations skyrocketing.

However, in 2022 and into 2023 there was a resulting reset with companies relying on easily available capital and favouring growth over profitability, making the change for survival. The Portland JSX management has explained that with an almost complete freezing of the capital markets during that time (remember the collapse of Credit Suisse and Silicon Valley Bank), the global turmoil in the markets saw many companies unable to raise capital or for the fortunate few, postponing their capital raises. 

That imbalance has now reversed so that today, the administrators of PCF III believe that the investment horizon of PCF III is likely to see the demand for growth equity capital far outweigh supply.

In short, PCF III should enjoy a favourable macro environment as it builds its portfolio.

PCF III fund follows the success of the two predecessor funds, which continue to focus on making growth equity investments in high-quality, scalable indigenous businesses following its codified 5-10-3 investment framework.