The Evans & Tate name is set to be removed from the stock exchange boards following a move by a consortium to take control of the listed shell and some its lesser known wine brands.
The Evans & Tate name is set to be removed from the stock exchange boards following a move by a consortium to take control of the listed shell and some its lesser known wine brands.
Under a proposal to be put to stockholders in late May, Evans & Tate Wines Ltd will be rebadged ETW Ltd and will be capitalised leaving existing securities holders with about 5 per cent of the company.
The consortium behind the recapitalisation includes Aaron Finlay, Nadine Donovan and Joshua Mann who became directors of the company earlier this month.
About $2.5 million is planned to be raised to pay off creditors ($1.4 million), develop the brands and look at other opportunities both in and outside the industry.
All of the group, linked to venture capital consortium Albion Partners, have previous business links and broad financial experience.
Mr Finlay said that the group had previously conducted recapitalisations, including listed company GSF Corporation Ltd, formerly Global Seafood Australia Ltd.
The brands that remain with the company are Stringy Bark Creek, Foley's Corner, Leefton Downs, Koora Valley and Pepper Ridge, which Mr Finlay said were more orientated to export markets.
"We are looking to continue to operate in the wine industry and further developing the brand names that have been retained within the business," he said.
The best known brands and winemaking assets of Evans & Tate were sold last year to a consortium involving national wine player McWilliam's Wines and Peter Fogarty's Pendulum Capital.
Evans & Tate listed almost nine years ago and rose to become one of Australia's top 10 wineries by volume of production before collapsing last year following around two years of financial difficulty.
Below is information about Albion Partners:
Albion Capital Partners is a specialist corporate advisory and investment arranging company with a focus on public companies.
Albion Capital has successfully arranged funding and sourced projects for a number of public companies in Australia and overseas in the fields of Energy, Resources, Telecommunications, Health Care, and Nanotechnology. Albion Capital has also sourced management and board members in Australia, US, Singapore and UK and implemented investor relations programs for client companies in US, Europe, Singapore and Australia.
Albion Capital has:
Provided funding by way of direct equity and government grants in both public and private companies, to date having raised in excess of $300 million;
Arranged public listings in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom (AIM market) and Germany (Frankfurt and Xetra markets) as well as NASDAQ National market in the United States.
Assisted in cross border collaborations and business development for client companies.
Been involved in Merger and acquisitions with a value in Australia and the UK in excess of $250 million.
In addition, the Albion Principals have been financing participants in companies and projects in Eastern Europe, Africa, Middle East and South America in the Resources sector.
Anthony Grist
Principal
B. Com, A. Fin, FAICD
Mr Grist has extensive experience in international capital markets and managing publicly listed companies across a range of industries both in Australia and overseas. Mr Grist currently serves as the Chairman of ASX listed Amcom Telecommunications Ltd, a fibre optic telecommunications carrier. Amcom is also the largest shareholder of iiNet Ltd, Australia's third largest internet service provider. In 2001 as Chairman of Amcom, Mr Grist arranged the $170 million project financing of IP1, a 3,800 km optic fibre link between Melbourne and Perth. This project has now been acquired by Telstra, Australia's largest telecommunications company.
Mr Grist has held directorships in Canada, United Kingdom and Australia in the healthcare, mining and energy industries and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia and is an Associate of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Mr Grist is a former Head of Corporate Finance at an Australian Stock Broking company. Mr Grist is also currently a non-executive director of ASX listed company iiNet Ltd and a former founding director of Hillgrove Resources Ltd.
Mr Grist was also the founder and former Chairman of Canadian listed Archangel Diamond Corporation (TSX) which in 1993 discovered a diamond cache in north western Russia worth an estimated USD 5 billion. As Chairman of Archangel Mr Grist negotiated for DeBeers Group, the world's largest diamond company, to become Archangel's largest shareholder. DeBeers CEO Gary Raife became Chairman of Archangel in 1996.
Gavin Rezos
Principal
B. Juris, LLB, BA, MAICD
Mr Rezos is a former Investment Banking Director of HSBC, one of the world's largest financial services organisations, having held regional positions in London, Dubai and Sydney. Mr Rezos has extensive international investment banking experience in a range of industries as well as in cross border merger and acquisitions, corporate finance and banking. Mr Rezos was an adviser to the Dubai Financial Market, Oman Stock Exchange and Bahrain Stock Exchange. Mr Rezos has also been an invited speaker on financing and commercialising technology at conferences in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, London, Frankfurt, Zurich, Beijing, Singapore and Australia.
Mr Rezos is a former CEO and co-founder of pSivida Ltd growing the company from a $1M recapitalisation to a peak market cap of over $400M. pSivida is an ASX, Frankfurt and NASDAQ listed bio-nanotechnology company focusing on drug delivery with offices in Perth, Boston, Malvern (UK) and Singapore. Mr Rezos also negotiated the acquisition by pSivida in 2005 of Control Delivery Systems Inc in Boston for $160M. In April 2007, pSivida completed Australia's largest biotechnology deal with a $203 million licensing agreement with Pfizer Ltd, the world's largest pharmaceutical company.
Mr Rezos was previously a non-executive director of Antares Energy Ltd, an ASX top 100 resources company and the second largest gas producer in Turkey and is currently a non-executive director of Iluka Resources Ltd, the world's largest dedicated mineral sands miner.
Mr Rezos originally practiced as a lawyer with Robinson Cox (now Clayton Utz) in Perth, Western Australia and Nabarro Nathanson in London before moving to Samuel Montagu and Midland Bank Plc based in London which both became part of HSBC.
Mr Rezos maintains a strong network of institutional investors, high net worth investors, bankers and analysts in the US, Europe and the Middle East.
Joshua Mann
Investment Analyst
B. Com, CFA
Mr Mann is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with experience in project finance. Previously he worked for HBOS plc specialising in project evaluation, due diligence and deal structuring with an emphasis on the Australian mining sector. Mr Mann has experience in evaluating investment opportunities across a range of industries including the mining, telecommunications and media sectors. Mr Mann is currently a non-executive director of ASX listed GSF Corporation Ltd.
Aaron Finlay
Chief Financial Officer
B. Com, CA, SA. Fin, ACIS, MAICD
Mr Finlay is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Company Secretary with over 16 years' experience in the accounting and finance profession.
Mr Finlay is Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary for ASX listed HalcyGen Pharmaceuticals Limited and is currently a non-executive director of GSF Corporation Limited. He was previously Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary for ASX and NASDAQ listed pSivida Limited. Prior to this he was INVESCO Australia's Chief Financial Officer where he had responsibility for the operations of finance, as well as the compliance, legal, and human resources functions. Prior to that position, Mr Finlay was head of group tax and treasury for INVESCO's global operations in London. Prior to joining INVESCO, Mr Finlay worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers (then Price Waterhouse) in London and Perth for 7 years.
