Delegat's shares to be offered at $1.40 each

Delegat's Wine Estate said today it would offer 32 million shares to the public at $1.40 each as part of its long-awaited IPO.

A priority pool of shares will be reserved for Oyster Bay Marlborough Vinyard (OBMV) shareholders and to those who sold OBMV shares to Delegat's under its partial offer in January, and to Delegat's noteholders

Noteholders will be allocated 3.57 million shares worth $5 million and OBMV shareholders (excluding Delegat's) will be entitled to 30 per cent of the IPO, or 4.8 million shares.

The IPO kicked off yesterday, with an institutional book build in which shares were priced between $1.40 and $1.60 each.

A price between $1.40 and $1.60 would give Delegat's a market capitalisation of about $160 million.

The offer opens on March 27.

A float has been mooted for two years but Delegat's protracted battled to secure OBMV seriously distracted it.

Delegat's got into a bidding war with Marlborough entrepreneur Peter Yealands for OBMV, who forced Delegat's to lift its initial offer from $3.10 a share to $6.

Delegat's is New Zealand's third-largest wine exporter and has recently built a $70m winery in Marlborough.

The company is headed up by managing director Jim Delegat and his sister, Rosemari. It was founded by their immigrant parents Nikola and Vidosava in 1947.

The family is expected to cut its holding from 100 per cent to about 65 per cent.

- NZPA