Seprod enters real estate with housing development in St Thomas

Seprod Ltd, the manufacturing conglomerate, plans to break ground on its first housing development, a joint venture with parent company Musson Group on 3,000 acres of agricultural land at Belvedere in St Thomas.

“We’ve got the planning. We’ve got the designs. By the first quarter of next year. we’ll start to cut the roads,” PB Scott, chairman of the Seprod Group, told the Financial Gleaner on the sidelines of the company’s annual general meeting held on Wednesday at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St Andrew.

Scott said the project, structured as a 50-50 joint venture between Seprod and Musson, has been under consideration for three to four years and has now secured the necessary approvals.

The development aims to take advantage of improved transport links between Kingston and St Thomas enabled by the Southern Coastal Highway. Scott described the objective as creating “an oasis of development starting from scratch”. Belvedere is a coastal area located within the White Horses district of St Thomas, with roots tied to the parish’s historical sugar estates. Seprod exited sugar production in 2019 when it shuttered the Golden Grove factory and has since been repurposing its St Thomas landholdings, converting former cane lands to cattle feed crops, including hay and sorghum.

The move into real estate development represents a significant diversification for Seprod, which has traditionally operated in food manufacturing and distribution through brands including Serge, Supligen, Busta and Betty.

Seprod acquired Belvedere Ltd in September 2006 as part of its wider expansion and raw material sourcing for its manufacturing and dairy operations. The Belvedere acreage forms part of a much larger landholding that Scott said totals 16,000 acres spread across Serge Island, Belvedere, Bowden and parts of Golden Grove.

The joint venture draws on Musson’s recent track record in property development. Scott said the group has delivered approximately one million square feet of built space over the past three to four years.

“We’ve built a lot of property. We’ve probably built a million square feet in the last three or four years. If you look at Chalmers Avenue, Angels. You can look at all the development ... that we’ve been building across the Caribbean,” Scott said.

He declined to disclose the level of investment involved, but said the project is designed to be self-financing.

“Oh, it’s considerable. I’m not going to mention it, but it’s going to be cash

flow-neutral, because as we build out; we will sell [units] continually over phases,” Scott said.

Seprod holds $50 billion in capital, and $137 billion in total assets to March. In the quarter, it generated profit of $1.6 billion, compared to $850 million a year earlier.

Scott did not offer a completion timeline, saying execution will be driven by demand rather than a fixed schedule. “If the demand is good, then we will continue to do it at the speed,” he said.

“If demand is slackish, then we will slow down and wait and learn from the experience,” he added.

neville.graham@gleanerjm.com