King Honey Sold To Me Today

Last week, Me Today (NZX: MEE) opened its capital raise to retail investors, to help fund its $36m acquisition of King Honey announced on 31 May 2021.

Chapman Tripp partner Roger Wallis has led the team advising Me Today on the $36m acquisition of King Honey, a $15.75m wholesale and retail capital raise and an $8.5m new debt facility with Bank of New Zealand.

The Chapman Tripp team working on the transactions includes senior associates Luke Bowers and Hayden Reyngoud and solicitor Sara Yacoub.

Wallis said, “the capital raise will part fund Me Today’s expansion into an adjacent health and wellness category, help accelerate the ongoing growth of the current Me Today business, and should result in Me Today having more than $70m market capitalisation”.

The capital raise comprises a $12m wholesale placement to third party investors, with the remaining $3.75m being sought from existing Me Today shareholders under a Share Purchase Plan (SPP) and new retail investors under a general retail offer. Both offers are being made by electronic form only, through a dedicated offer website with no paper-based applications following discontinuance of cheques as a recognised means of payment in New Zealand.

Me Today has also agreed a new $8.5m debt facility with Bank of New Zealand to help fund the acquisition, with the balance of the purchase price being satisfied through a combination of the newly-raised capital and the issue by Me Today of $10m in shares and a $5m subordinated loan note to the vendor.

King Honey, operating since 2016, has a network of 18,000 beehives and 3,600 queen beehives across the North Island and Marlborough region.

In a statement released by the company last week, Me Today says that it sees real opportunity for the continued growth of the Me Today and King Honey brands working together, with the ability to include Mānuka honey products as an extension of the Me Today product range. The company also commented on the benefit they hope to see in leveraging the distribution networks of both brands.

Carl Rowling of Rowling Law & Strategy acted for the vendors of King Honey.

The acquisition and capital raise remains subject to shareholder approval which Me Today has sought at a shareholder meeting to be held on 25 June 2021.

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