By DANIEL RIORDAN
Electric motor company Wellington Drive Technologies is eyeing a stock exchange listing after raising $3.6 million from four major institutional investors.
Managing director Ross Green says the firm plans to list by year's end.
Guardian Trust, BT Funds Management and Armstrong Jones have invested for the first time. Axa NZ has made a follow-on investment after taking a stake in March.
Wellington Drive has talked about listing before but the fresh presence on its register of four institutions, which do not get involved in unlisted firms unless they are close to pulling the trigger, suggests this time it is for real.
The four have together bought six million shares at 60c a piece. Shares closed yesterday on the exchange's secondary board at 80c, giving a market capitalisation of $80.8 million.
They were trading in the teens at the start of the year but began to rise after Axa bought in.
Wellington Drive has taken a decade to get to where it is, has yet to make a profit and has revenues of less than $500,000, but its world-leading technology makes managers and investors optimistic.
The Auckland-based firm makes an innovative motor used in fans, air filters and air conditioners. The electronically-controlled motor is brushless, made largely of plastic and magnets and has advantages over conventional ones in energy efficiency and noise. The intellectual property is patented worldwide.
The firm has 1300 shareholders although three-quarters of its 101 million shares are owned by about 10 shareholders. The largest is chairman Ray Thomson and institutional venture-capital vehicle the Greenstone Fund.
Mr Green, a startup veteran who restructured operations after taking over about two years ago, said it would not offer new shares to raise more capital when it listed.
Its listing was to raise its credibility with large corporate clients in the US and Europe, boost chances of securing further supply and licensing deals and widen the range of potential institutional investors.
Wellington Drive revs up for listing
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