Takeover bidder raises $7.85m for Lark

AUSTRALIAN Whisky Holdings has raised a $7.85 million war chest for several projects including an attempt to take over the Lark Distillery.

On Monday, the company made a cash and scrip offer for the 51.88 per cent of Lark shares that it does not already own.

Last year, AWH failed in a takeover bid when it offered 10,333 of its shares for each Lark share.

That offer valued each Lark share at $341 and the company at about $14 million.

Lark is a private company with 29 shareholders, including former premier Paul Lennon, Hobart businessman Tony Shadforth and tourism entrepreneur Lloyd Clark. The company comprises a total of 51,601 shares.

The latest AWH offer values Lark shares at $400 each or an enterprise value of about $20 .6 million.

In September last year Lark Distillery raised $3 million from existing shareholders for the purchase of new stills at Cambridge and development of a gin distillery.

AWH came off a trading halt yesterday and its shares have risen from 0.037c a share to 4c a share.

AWH company secretary Gary Stewart said the company would use the raised funds to expand production at the Nant Estate to 700 barrels a year. It plans to construct a second distillery at Nant, near Bothwell, with the aim of increasing production to 1500 barrels a year.

The company is also buying back whisky barrels from Nant barrel investors using a $1 million finance facility.