Durrant Pate/Contributor

NCB Financial Group Limited (NCBFG) has now priced its US$225 million bond offer, which is set to close on Thursday, July 31.

The international securities markets have been waiting for days to hear the pricing of the Senior Secured Notes, which will offer a coupon rate of 11%. NCBFG successfully priced the transaction in the international securities markets on July 24, 2025.

The Secured Notes will be rated by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and Fitch Ratings. Our Today reported last week that NCBFG has pledged all of the shares of its majority-owned subsidiary, Guardian Holdings (GHL), as collateral for its bond issue. 

NCBFG currently holds 143,326,379 shares in GHL, representing 61.77% ownership of GHL’s ordinary shares. These are the shares to be held as collateral for the bond issue. 

This move exposes GHL to additional risks if NCBFG does not meet its debt obligations, with the Jamaican banking powerhouse having over US$250 million in debt obligations maturing this year.

Meanwhile, NCB stock price fell last week, hitting a new low of J$29 on Friday. 

NCBFG is heavily indebted, and its chairman and majority shareholder, Michael Lee-Chin, has used his shares in Jamaica’s largest financial group to collateralise several bonds that are coming due. In some cases, he has asked for a longer period to repay and has also disposed of a number of personal assets to make good on some of his debt commitments.