Opossum firm plans issue

Press, 10 January 1987, Page 28

Opossum firm plans issue

PA Auckland The Kiwi Bear Co, Ltd, a new company which will be engaged in the farming and marketing of the common brush-tailed opossum, will raise $2.8 million through an issue of 5.6 million ordinary 50c shares at par. One million of the available shares are to be shared between Smart Group (NZ) Ltd, Mr S. J. Smart and Mr A. P. Williams, formerly the major shareholder in Williams Property Holdings, Ltd. A further 600,000 shares have been reserved for subscription, for cash, by the promoters. The remaining four million shares are being offered to clients of the Auckland broker Morrow and Benjamin, Ltd, which has underwritten the issue. There is no public pool.

The issue will open and close on January 30. Application has been made to the stock exchange for the securities to be listed. The company forecasts a net trading loss, before extraordinary items, of $23,647 for the period which will end on May 31. A tax paid profit of $206,686 is forecast for the full trading year to May 31, 1988, this figure being trimmed to $144,686 through the amortisation of $62,000 of set up costs. Tax paid profit in the 1989 year is forecast at $573,131, reduced to $511,131 after the amortisation of a further $62,000 in set up costs. The financial forecasts include provision for dividends to be paid in respect of the 1988 and subsequent years. The directors say in the prospectus that it is their policy to distribute as divi-

dends not less than 40 per cent of the average annual tax paid profits but it. is not intended that a distribution be made in respect of the year, which will end on May 31. Authorised capital of the company is $25 million. The directors say that New Zealand has a virtual monopoly in the supply of opossum products as the only other source of supply is Australia where the species is protected, except in Tasmania. Kiwibear fur is a versatile manufacturing fur which has an established place in the world fur market. Kiwibear meat is said to have met with an enthusiastic response from the Chinese community who see it as a delicacy. Initial trial shipments of the meat have been made to Hong Kong. The response to

these shipments has been positive with two importers indicating their wish to establish markets for the product. The Kiwi Bear Co., Ltd, has agreed to buy a 175 hectare farm at Broadlands in the Taupo region. The purchase price is $340,000. The company also plans to buy, for $250,000, a meat processing plant including refrigeration equipment. Live opossums will be captured, under licence, in the Tauhara, Opepe, Northland, Kaingaroa forests. The directors of Kiwi Bear Co, Ltd, are Mr K. N. Goodall, Mr G. J. Leadley, S. J. Smart and Mr R. W. Stirling. The operations manager is Mr A. W. Keber, a wildlife biologist and environmental scientist who has specialised in opossum products and wild animal farming for several years.