Nobilo family cut float stake

By Joe Helm

Nobilo family interests have sold nearly half the 1.25 million shares they bought in last year's public float of Nobilo Wines.

Nick Nobilo, group managing director of Nobilo Wines yesterday confirmed Nobilo family interests had sold about 600,000 shares because of the overwhelming public demand for the company's shares when they were floated in November.

"We had a lot of demand for shares from close associates who couldn't get any shares so we released some into the market" Mr Nobilo said.

"We were free to sell the shares. This is not a sell down of a major portion of our shareholding.It is very minor, we are not selling out".

Nobilo family interests owned 31 per cent of the company before the sell-down.

In the prospectus for last November's Nobilo share float, Nobilo chairman David Irving said "The existing shareholders remain committed to Nobilo Wines. None of them is selling shares in this offer. Indeed, the Nobilo family is subscribing for $1 million of the new sharers to be issued under this offer".

The prospectus said the four major shareholders, the Nobilo family, BRL Hardy,Emerald Capital and Vieceli family have pre-emptive buying rights over any shares any of them wish to sell.

Those rights do not apply to the 1.25 million shares bought by Nobilo family interests in the public share offer.

Mr Nobilo said the share sale was not the reason for the depressed Nobilo share price.

He attributed the fall in the share price to general market weakness and some recent bad publicity about the wine industry.

Dean Cope of sharebrokers Craig and Co, the retail manager for the Nobilo share float, said the sale of the family shares had put a cap on the Nobilo share price.

"You can trace the fall in the share price from when they sold the shares in January" he said.

Mr Cope said the share sale was "inappropriate" and the Nobilo family recognised that now.

"You can't really blame the family. They're new at this. The organising broker should have told them not to do it."

Neville Todd, managing director of organising broker Salomon Smith Barney New Zealand, said the fall in the Nobilo share price was not due to the family selling shares.

The New Zealand sharemarket was moribund as investors put cash aside to meet forthcoming commitments in share issues from Contact Energy, Telecom and Sky City.

Nobilo Wines shares were unchanged at 81c yesterday.