Beverage company Australian Product Research (APR) is the first manufacturer in the world with exclusive rights to make branded water and sports drinks for boxing and fitness brand Everlast. It comes after APR completed a $5 million capital raise to fund growth and expansion for two new Everlast branded products.
The partnership means it APR also holds exclusive first rights to export. It now holds the official rights to manufacture and sell Everlast beverage products in Australia and New Zealand with the option to distribute or sub-license in other regions and countries.
APR already produces water products distributed internationally across 10,000 retail outlets. Its range of products have been rebranded to the Everlast brand. The Everlast Isotonic Sports Drinks, have been exclusively formulated for the Australian market by APR, it said.
Water and near waters are the fastest growing beverage segment in the world, with the Australian market valued at around $780 million in revenue a year and growing at roughly three per cent per annum.
APR CEO John Leeder has a background in the beverage industry with 10 years at Coca-Cola Amatil.
Leeder said: “This has been a fantastic process and a great result with the assistance of STAX and Apollo League in the capital raising stakes. A true partnership has been built between APR and Stax in the negotiations which was completed by David Mead (APR Director), Kenny Lee (STAX CEO) and Simon Ward from Apollo League to bring this collaboration to life. We have certainly exceeded our funding ask and our investors are the right partners to help us grow this business.”
The equity financing was jointly arranged by two emerging Australian fintech businesses STAX and Apollo League.
The $5 million raised exceeded the initial capital sought by APR by $3 million – an oversubscription of 66 per cent – and is one of the largest unlisted capital raisings in Australia within the last 12 months.
The additional $3 million will allow APR to build a bottling facility in New South Wales, Leeder said. The funds will be invested over a period of 12 months in stages. The first instalment has been made.
The deal with Everlast was negotiated by by the APR board, led by the chair James van der Meer and CFO David Whitford.
Everlast products are sold across 75 countries and they exceeded USD$1 billion sales.
Leeder said the inherent risk of launching a product in a new market is mitigated by the brand recognition Everlast already has.
“This is good news for a product looking to establish itself in the psyche of consumers, since its parent brand has already gained the trust and respect of the local market. This will prove a significant advantage for Everlast’s beverage products as we seek to gain market share.”