Moa's first shares trade at $1.35 - 8pc premium

Shares in Moa Group, the boutique beer maker doing New Zealand's first initial public offering of the year, have just started trading on the NZX at an 8 per cent premium.

The company raised $16 million, $15 million of which came from institutional investors and clients of NZX firms, and a further $1 million from the public, which was overbid by 124 per cent, it said in a statement. The shares sold at $1.25 apiece.

Shares have just traded at $1.35 each - which equates to an 8 per cent premium.

Priority was given to investors in the public pool of shares pre-registered for the offer, with the remainder missing out.

"We are delighted with the support for the offer from all investors, however we simply can't satisfy all applications," chief executive Geoff Ross said earlier today. "With the Moa listing set to proceed today, we hope these people can support Moa post listing by looking to buy on-market and enjoying the Moa range of beers."

Moa needs the money to build a new $6.1 million brewing facility, and cover the $1.6 million cost of the float. It expects it will burn through about $4.4 million of that cash by the end of the 2014 financial year, leaving it with cash of $2.9 million.

The float includes limited recourse loans for the purchase of $1.1 million of redeemable shares under the offer issued at the offer price by Ross, and $525,000 of similar arrangements for other employees.

Ross was the founder and chief executive of 42 Below, which was a listed company for three years prior to its sale to Bacardi in late 2006. His shares vest if the stock price beats 2.2 times the offer price, or $2.75, for 20 trading days in the third year after the float.

Craigs Investment Partners and Forsyth Barr acted as joint lead managers for the offer.

-additional reporting APNZ