Behemoth Brewing Company is seeking to raise $3.5m to fulfill its growth strategy and bring Auckland their own Churly-branded brewpub.
The company launched the offer last week and have unsurprisingly attracted a good number of investors already. When an offer has a heady combination of promising financials, a fun and creative brand, an alluring shareholder rewards package, and the prospect of a new brewpub on the scene, there’s no shortage of interest.
Andrew Childs, the owner and brewer of Behemoth Brewing Company has been commercially brewing since 2013 and Behemoth is now New Zealand’s 3rd largest independent craft brewer. As a product, craft beer can be difficult to commercialise successfully, but there’s evidence that Behemoth have taken it from niche to normal; last year it produced 530,000 litres of beer, turned over $4.224m across NZ and 11 export markets, and delivered an EBITDA of $308,000. The achievement is even more note-worthy considering Behemoth is a ‘gypsy’ brewer!
“Our new brewing facility, with a capacity of 300,000 litres, will allow our production base the flexibility to create the beers that people want to drink, and for us to be able to push craft beer further forward,” said Childs. “ We’ll also be able to provide beer for a hugely growing export market and take advantage of opportunities that we have had to previously turn down due to lack of flexible capacity.”
The fun and creative branding of Behemoth stars ‘Churly’, a toothy, but likeable monster. The fun, innovative demeanour of the character mirrors the approach to the brews.
“We believe that beer should be fun. If it’s not fun then what’s the point? The packaging and marketing of the beer, plus the beer itself is all fun. We aim for something that people can relate to and get on-board with,” said Childs. “That is something that we at Behemoth are really proud of.”
Some of the funds are expected to come from the Syndex investor community. Syndex facilitates the ownership, management and trading of proportionally-owned assets in the private market. Behemoth Brewing Company is using the Syndex marketplace to fully access a ready-investor community. The added bonus is access to the Syndex secondary market, should investors seek the comfort of liquidity.
“We are looking forward to working with Syndex to allow people to trade in and out of Behemoth. Syndex allows people to invest in great companies without having to deal with massive listed companies,” said Childs.
The capital raise will fund key projects, such as establishment into Asian markets, development of satellite Behemoth tap rooms, and for continued growth, both domestically and overseas. The key project is ‘Churlys’ brewpub in Auckland that will have the capacity to brew 300,000 litres per year, showcase 25 beers on tap and seat 140 diners.
“The annual collection of awards are a testament to a quality product and effective marketing. Combined with the financial performance, you have the ingredients for an investment that’s attracting many investors,” Ross Verry, Syndex CEO.
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