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- Beverage company Founders First (FFL) has entered a partnership agreement to develop and co-invest a new whisky business currently named NewCo
- The company entered the agreement with Chris Malcolm who is the former CEO of Australian Whisky Holdings and former Chairman of Lark Distillery
- This agreement includes the purchase and rebrand of 68 barrels of maturing whisky stock that was originally distilled at Nant Distillery in Tasmania
- Each barrel has been inspected, weighed and checked for alcohol and its quality, and the company expects to release its first small batch in December
- Further, 100,000 NewCo shares will be issued, with 60,000 going to Founders First via a wholly-owned subsidiary, and 40,000 to Chris Malcolm
- Founders First has ended the day 7.5 per cent in the green with shares trading for 43 cents each
Beverage company Founders First (FFL) has entered a partnership agreement to develop and co-invest a new whisky business currently named NewCo.
The company entered the agreement with Chris Malcolm who is the former CEO of Australian Whisky Holdings and former Chairman of Lark Distillery.
This agreement includes the purchase and rebrand of 68 barrels, around 7400 litres, of maturing whisky stock that was originally distilled at Nant Distillery in Tasmania.
Each barrel has been inspected, weighed and checked for alcohol and its quality. Founders First expects to release its first small batch in December.
The company also acquired one of Australia’s first gin distilleries, Kangaroo Island Distillery, earlier in the year and it’s planning to release its first batch of single malt in December.
“Whisky is the largest spirits category in Australia and growing in popularity globally. Our combined position with NewCo and Kangaroo Island Distillery along with our sales and distribution capability places us in a strong position to scale and grow in this exciting category in both domestic and export markets,” CEO and Managing Director Mark Haysman said.
Under the agreement, 100,000 NewCo shares will be issued, with 60,000 going to Founders First via a wholly-owned subsidiary, while 40,000 is reserved for Chris Malcolm.
Depending on due diligence confirmation and being satisfactory to the Board of Founders, Founders First can also invest $525,000 for a 60 per cent interest in NewCo.
“Having a passion and long-term association with the whisky industry I am looking forward to working with the Founders First team to realise our shared vision of building a high quality globally recognised whisky brand,” Chris said.
“It’s exciting to be part of building a new brand which already has access to such high quality whisky in barrels, some of which will be ready for release as early as December this year,” he added.
Founders First has ended the day 7.5 per cent in the green with shares trading for 43 cents each in a $49.43 million market cap.
