The company behind Moa Beer will float on the NZX next month, but high demand has seen the shares already oversubscribed

Demand from both institutional investors and retail brokers was high, meaning that 12.8 million shares - 42.1 per cent of the company - will be sold at the price of $1.25, said the company today.

At the oversubscribed level, Moa Group will raise $16 million in capital on its listing date of November 13.

The company intends to use $6.1m of the capital to upgrade its Blenheim brewery and provide increased production and bottling capacity.

The rest will pay for float costs and will be used as working capital for the business.

Josh Scott, the son of well known viticulturist Allan Scott, founded Moa in 2004.

Following a 2010 buy-in, 80 per cent of Moa Brewing is owned by company incubator the Business Bakery - part owned by Ross and Grant Baker - and private equity firm Pioneer Capital. The rest is owned by the Scott family wine company.

Some 1.1m new shares will also be issued to existing shareholders, giving the current owners 61.5 per cent of the company post-float.

Ross and the Business Bakery built Kiwi vodka brand 42 Below up to public listing, and eventually sold the company to Bacardi in 2006 for $138m.

However, he said a big exit was not the goal of this float - rather he hoped Moa would be embraced as an export beer brand that would be synonymous with New Zealand.

In its just-released prospectus, Moa said it had revenue of $2.4m for the 2012 year to March 31, while earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation was negative $2.8m.

The company made a loss of $2.8m.

Moa has forecast revenues of $4.3m for the year to the end of March 2013, on a $3.5m overall loss.

Revenue was expected to double in the 2014 year, leading to a $2.5m overall loss.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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