The shareholders of Tortuga Rum Company Ltd of the Cayman Islands, Tortuga Imports Inc of Miami, Florida, Tortuga CRC Jamaica Ltd and Tortuga Barbados/Baker’s Choice have consolidated its regional interests into a new international food group, Tortuga International Holdings Limited. At the same time, international specialty foods group Jamaica Producers Group Ltd has made a strategic investment in Tortuga International.
The restructuring will not affect Tortuga Liquors, the wholesale distribution, retail and duty-free liquor business in Grand Cayman, which is also the exclusive distributor for all Tortuga branded products in the Cayman Islands. Tortuga Liquors will remain 100 per cent owned by Robert and Carlene Hamaty, who founded Tortuga Rum Company in 1984, and who are also shareholders in the new entity Tortuga International. “Moving into our 28th year in business, Carlene and I will continue to run Tortuga Liquors retail and wholesale with our dedicated staff, keeping our strong roots and community involvement in Grand Cayman,” Robert Hamaty said.
The new entity Tortuga International, in turn, is set to benefit from Jamaica Producers Group’s international experience in specialty foods in an effort to take the Tortuga brand global, said Mr Hamaty.
“Merging our companies and partnering with Jamaica Producers establishes the framework for Tortuga to become a truly global brand.
“The family has taken the brand into the United States and the Caribbean and now needs a strategic partner to take it globally. I am very confident and comfortable with the JP Group as principals and their board of directors is well known to our family,” Mr. Hamaty said.
Tortuga International now owns the Tortuga intellectual property rights, including the brand, recipes, bakeries, international marketing rights and other properties associated with the previous entities.
“We are very excited about this partnership and adding the Tortuga brand to our portfolio,” said Jeffrey Hall, managing director of Jamaica Producers Group Ltd.
The new consolidated organisation Tortuga International will be led by the founders of Tortuga Imports Inc with Marcus Simmonds as chief executive officer and Monique Hamaty-Simmonds as the chief marketing officer.
“Having Marcus and Monique as shareholders and managers gives this new business the solid foundation needed to take Tortuga global,” Mr Hall said.
“Our vision for Tortuga is to become a $100 million global brand,” said Marcus Simmonds. “Moving forward as a single, consolidated operation gives us economies of scale to have a much greater impact in developing the business. Having a well established partner in Jamaica Producers further enhances our capacity to build and manage distribution of the Tortuga brand throughout the world.”
Robert Hamaty’s daughter, Monique Hamaty-Simmonds, and her husband, Marcus, founded Tortuga Imports Inc in Florida in 1997. The Miami subsidiary will continue doing business as the Tortuga Rum Cake Company, handling worldwide distribution, supply chain management and procurement. As part of the restructuring, previous franchise operations will become wholly owned subsidiaries of Tortuga International.
“This is an exciting time for our family businesses,“ Ms Hamaty-Simmonds said. “By joining with Jamaica Producers we can accomplish our long term goals and take the Tortuga brand to new heights. Now we just need to turn our vision into reality and bring our ‘authentic taste of the Caribbean’ to markets around the world.”
Jamaica Producers Group has a long history and numerous ties with the Cayman Islands. The company’s founding CEO, Charlie Johnston, also founded Jamaica Fruit & Shipping Co Ltd, a logistics company that had a long standing partnership with the Kirkconnell family of Cayman Brac. The company’s current chairman also Charles Johnston, the grandson of the founder, chairs Jamaica Fruit & Shipping which continues its relationship with Cayman by way of business and family ties to the Foster family of Grand Cayman.
Founded in 1925, Jamaica Producers Group is a vertically integrated, international food company with operations in agriculture, manufacturing, marketing and distribution. Through its subsidiaries and associated companies, JP operates the leading processor of Blue Mountain coffee, the leading producer of fresh juice in the Netherlands and Jamaica’s leading producer of tropical snacks. The company’s specialty food brands include JP (fresh produce), St. Mary’s (tropical snacks), Hoogesteger (fresh juice) and Jablum (coffee). It is a publicly traded company on the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
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