Supercar firm back on road for funding

Hulme managing director Jock Freemantle is trying a different approach to entice investors. Photo / Greg Bowker

An Auckland-based supercar firm remains on the lookout for deep-pocketed investors, despite a failed share offering earlier this year.

In its off-market IPO, Hulme Supercars offered 7.5 million shares at $1 each but aborted the offer after the minimum target of $1.9 million was not reached.

The minimum amount would have allowed production to begin. The cars were to be sold for $650,000 each.

A working CanAm has already been built by Hulme and, the firm says, has reached speeds of up to 257km/h on the race track.

Hulme managing director Jock Freemantle said it had been unhelpful that many potential investors had lost money in the collapses of various New Zealand finance firms.

"It wasn't a very good time for an IPO float of a new company," he said.

Freemantle said many investors committed only 10 per cent of the amount they previously indicated they would contribute.

The company made a road trip around New Zealand early last year to tout the IPO and the combined indications from potential investors exceeded $5 million, he said.

Freemantle declined to say how much money investors eventually contributed to the aborted IPO.

"Of course [the response to the IPO] was disappointing ... we put a lot of work into it but the economic situation of the world is something we've got no control over," he said.

Freemantle said the economic climate had left investors particularly risk averse.

The IPO's prospectus warned that investing in Hulme was "highly speculative", with big risks involved.

Freemantle said the company would now target "professional investors" with an interest in high-end motor vehicles for future funding.

A number of individuals overseas were already keen to commit funding to the project, he said.

Freemantle said Hulme would like to stay New Zealand owned but that was looking increasingly unlikely.

The company had enough funds to tide it over for the moment, but production would have to wait until substantial investment was secured, he said. Freemantle said 125,000 people visited the company's stand at last week's Australian International Motor Show, in Sydney.

BBC's Top Gear also filmed the Hulme Supercar in action in New Zealand earlier this yearfor a programme scheduled to be broadcast next month, he said.

If the funding was to be secured, Hulme planned to export the vehicles to wealthy car enthusiasts overseas.

The firm said there was only a small market in New Zealand.