Norbrook Equity increases stake in events company SNB Creative
Published:Wednesday | April 6, 2022 | 12:07 AM
Norbrook Equity Partners, led by Khary Robinson, has increased its stake in SNB Creative Group, a company formed three years ago from the merger of events and entertainment companies Blueprint Event and Starlight Productions.
The cash injection of $600 million through Norbrook Media and Entertainment Group gives Norbrook on equal stake with Blueprint, the primary operating partner in SNB Creative Group, Robinson told the Financial Gleaner.
SNB’s directors include Khary Robinson, Lennox Robinson, Garth Pearce, Blueprint founder Deane Shepherd and Starlight founder Arjune Bewley.
Norbrook, which has been capitalising on opportunities presented during the pandemic for mergers and acquisitions, is a diversified investment holding company with several operating subsidiaries in the Caribbean. Alongside SNB, it also has shareholdings in Mailpac Group Limited, Hertz Jamaica, Express Fitness, Pure National Ice Company, Norbrook Water Company (JamAgua); and Norbrook Transaction Services (ePay).
Additionally, since the pandemic, Norbrook Equity partnered with Jamaica Producers Group in a joint venture company called Grupo Frontera Limited to acquire the assets and operations of Grupo Alaska, the largest ice and water company in the Dominican Republic. The acquisition was the first for Grupo Frontera.
Norbrook’s $600 million injection in SNB Creative is expected to support the company’s growth objectives. Included in its plans is the acquisition of a majority stake in the “much larger and more resourced” Starlight. Currently, Blueprint pulls in annual revenue of $250 million.
“We have always been impressed with Deane and the thoughtfulness and determination he put into growing his business into a market leader. We have had dialogue for years about how we could help him scale to the next level. Accordingly, as his working partnership with the Starlight team deepened, the value of bringing the resources, skill sets, and relationships of our three organisations together quickly became apparent,” Robinson said in a joint press release.
SNB’s core business is made up of weddings, corporate events, and parties, a market in which it has to go up against rivals like Main Event Entertainment Group.
To stand out in the market, SNB is said to have refined and added to its offerings, and retooled its assets and teams to position for business from the backlog of corporate, personal and group events that were in abeyance under the pandemic but are expected to come back on stream starting this year.
In addition to offering a full suite of services for event production, from design, renders, screens, trussing, staging, lighting, and audio equipment, SNB Creative has expanded its digital capabilities under the brand Reel Time Studios.
Shepherd said the company has successfully executed large-scale events such as Dream Weekend and Frenchmen. Overtime, it wants to take tackle design and execution of unique experiential events for other Caribbean countries.
“Now as a much larger and innovative merged entity, we are eager to show the Caribbean what we have to offer. From Reel Time’s innovative digital events to the large-scale traditional event set-ups of the past, we believe corporations, groups, and individuals will all benefit greatly from the enhanced quality and service SNB is now able to provide,” Shepherd said.