Regional support key to Just Water float

Regional support a key to successful Just Water float

Support from regional centres around New Zealand has been a key to the successful public share float of Just Water International Ltd.

Company shares began trading on the NZX alternative exchange (NZAX) on Tuesday, 15 June.

Chief Executive Tony Falkenstein said the Initial Public Offer (IPO) of 16.5 million shares had been well supported in regional centres, as well as the larger cities. The offer was reported to have closed 10 times over-subscribed.

“This initial offer demonstrated investor support right across the country. Half the shares went to investors outside Auckland, with excellent support from regional centres such as Whangarei, Tauranga, Hamilton, Napier, New Plymouth, Palmerston North/Wanganui, Nelson/Blenheim, Timaru, Oamaru and Invercargill.

“That regional support tells us that our customers in those areas value our service and performance, and that they have confidence in us,” Mr Falkenstein said. “The pattern of regional shareholdings is remarkably similar to our customer distribution across New Zealand.”

Just Water shares had a par value of $0.50 but have been trading at a premium on the NZAX.

This is the first IPO on the alternative market by a previously unlisted company.

Just Water International Ltd is the leading provider of drinking water to organisations in New Zealand. The Just Water Group comprises Just Water New Zealand, Cool Water Corporate Water Brands and has just announced the acquisition of Aqua-Cool.

Just Water International now has more than 35,000 water coolers placed in organisations around the country, and is the largest player in this niche of the beverage industry.

Capital raised from the share float will be used to fund growth and reduce borrowings from the Aqua-Cool purchase. The share offer represents 25% of the company’s share capital.

The company’s prospectus was registered with the Registrar of Companies on Friday 7 May 2004and the offer closed on 31 May 2004.

Bottled drinking-water has been an international growth phenomenon. In the US, bottled drinking water has been one of the fastest growing categories within the beverage industry in recent years.

Worldwide, growth of this category has been estimated at an average 10% per year.

While the New Zealand market has grown rapidly over the past 10-15 years, the average water consumption per capita in New Zealand is still only one-fifth of the average in Australia.

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