The shareholders of Tortuga CRC Jamaica Ltd, Tortuga Rum Company Ltd of the Cayman Islands, Tortuga Imports Inc, of Miami, Florida, and Tortuga Barbados/Baker’s Choice have consolidated their regional interests into a new international food group — Tortuga International Holdings, Limited. At the same time, Jamaica Producers Group Ltd (JP), an established international specialty foods group, has made a strategic investment in Tortuga International which is expected to make Tortuga a truly global brand. The founders of Tortuga Imports Inc will lead the new company with Marcus Simmonds as chief executive officer and Monique Hamaty-Simmonds the chief marketing officer for Tortuga International.
The board of Tortuga International Holdings includes representatives from each of its operating subsidiaries in Cayman, Miami and Barbados as well as Jamaica Producers Group. Founded in 1925, JP is a vertically integrated, international food company with operations in agriculture, manufacturing, marketing and distribution. Though 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 (JSE).
“We are very excited about this partnership and adding the Tortuga brand to our portfolio,” said Jeffrey Hall, managing director of Jamaica Producers Group. “Having Marcus and Monique as shareholders and managers gives this new business the solid foundation needed to take Tortuga global.” Tortuga International Holdings Ltd now owns the Tortuga intellectual property rights (the brand, including cake and rum), recipes, bakeries, international marketing rights and other properties associated with the previous entities. “Merging our companies and partnering with Jamaica Producers is a vital step to achieving our vision for Tortuga to become a $100-million global brand,” said Marcus Simmonds. “This gives us economies of scale to have a much greater impact in developing the business. Having a well-established partner like Jamaica Producers further enhances our capacity to build and manage distribution of the Tortuga brand throughout the world.”
Jamaica Observer
