Kontiki lists one of its companies

The Kontiki Growth Fund (KGF) has announced the first listing of one of its investee companies: Pleass Beverage Equipment Ltd.

The company, PBEL, will be trading as Pleass Beverage & Packaging.

In a statement, KGF said PBEL intends to undertake an Initial Pubic Offering (IPO) and listing on the South Pacific Stock Exchange (SPSE).

It said, KGF shareholders will, along with PBEL employees, get priority in allocations of shares under the issue.

The offer period for the IPO is scheduled to run from December 11, 2008 to January 14, 2009.

The offer could be closed early if enough applications are received. The intention is that this will be followed by listing on the SPSE.

The IPO seeks to raise up to $900,000 to fund PBEL’s expansion plans. To achieve this, up to 1,000,000 shares will be issued at 90 cents per share.  PBEL staff will have priority for a total of 200,000 shares while KGF shareholders will have priority over the remaining 800,000 shares.

The statement said, the prioritization of KGF shareholders is in line with commitments made by KGF at the time of its launch that when KGF’s investee companies eventually undertake IPOs and/or list on the stock exchange, KGF would endeavour to secure priority for its shareholders.

For the purposes of identifying KGF shareholders, the books closing date has been set for Friday December 19, 2008.

The issue is being arranged by Kontiki Capital Ltd, which is also the manager of KGF, and will be partly underwritten by Kontiki Stockbroking Ltd.

According to KGF, at the offer price of 90 cents, PBEL is being priced on an expected dividend yield for the year to December 2008 of 3.3 per cent, and an expected price earnings ratio of 11.0 times.

“We are very excited that the first of the KGF private equity investments is now ready for listing,” said Kontiki Capital Ltd chairman, Jack Lowenstein.

“Private equity investing is a business requiring patience even in good times – but even more so in a difficult economic environment. We are impressed with PBEL’s performance in the hard times of the last few years, and believe it is now well placed for steady growth.”