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- Fiji Kava (FIJ) partners with Chemist Warehouse to expand its presence in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland
- Chemist Warehouse will sell and market Fiji Kava’s products in its Australian and New Zealand-based stores, as well as launch Fiji’s products in Ireland
- In return, Chemist Warehouse will invest $1.43 million for a 10 per cent stake in Fiji Kava
- The Australian retailer will receive up to 12.99 million FIJ shares at 11 cents each with around 6.49 million shares conditional on meeting performance targets
- Company shares closed up 4.17 per cent at 12.5 cents on July 27
Fiji Kava (FIJ) has partnered with Chemist Warehouse to expand its presence in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.
Chemist Warehouse will provide sales and marketing services to expand Fiji Kava’s presence in its stores across Australia and New Zealand, and launch Fiji’s products across its stores in Ireland.
The medicinal kava health and wellness company will become a platinum supplier, which involves receiving greater marketing and promotional support across Chemist Warehouse’s Alibaba Tmall Global store. This will further expand the company’s presence in China as Chemist Warehouse is one of the largest health retail stores on Alibaba.
In return, Chemist Warehouse will take up a 10 per cent stake in Fiji Kava by investing $1.43 million. The Australian retailer will receive up to 12,995,454 FIJ shares at 11 cents each.
The first 6,497,727 shares will be issued in tranche one. The remaining 6,497,727 shares being issued is conditional on Fiji Kava meeting certain performance targets in the 2023 financial year.
Chemist Warehouse Chairman and Co-founder, Jack Gance, commented on the investment.
“This investment signals our strong belief in Fiji Kava as a company that has something truly unique to offer in the natural medicine market,” Mr Gance said.
“We only partner with organisations that share our values and have a clear strategy to deliver on their ambitions for growth. As we’ve witnessed over the past two months, Fiji Kava has both.”
Fiji Kava CEO, Dr Anthony Noble, expressed his thoughts on the partnership.
“To have Australia’s leading pharmacy brand take a strategic equity stake in our business only two months after our unique noble kava varieties were launched in Chemist Warehouse stores and online is transformational for us,” he said.
“At a time when the market for natural remedies for anti-anxiety is soaring in light of the global pandemic, not only will this partnership increase the availability of our products and awareness of our brand globally, it also deepens our relationship and aligns our commercial interests to the long-term success of Fiji Kava.”
Chemist Warehouse will make the first half of its investment by the end of the year and will focus on driving marketing and sales for Fiji Kava’s products. These include NobleKava extract capsules and three varieties of Noble Sleep, Noble Calm and Noble Body. In addition, Fiji Kava plans to launch Noble Focus and a range of medicinal teas in FY22.
Company shares closed up 4.17 per cent at 12.5 cents on July 27.
