South Australian based Beston Global Food Company has announced a capital raise, looking to secure $28.2 million to accelerate growth, retire debt, and reset the balance sheet.
A placement to raise $3.3 million would be through the issuance of 130.2 million new shares at $0.025 per share. A non-renounceable entitlement offer to raise $25 million would come via issuing around 998.5 million new shares at the same price.
Proceeds would go towards clearing debt and capitalising on opportunities post Covid. The company said it plans to invest in several high ROI manufacturing projects to accelerate profit and sustainability improvements, including the vertical integration of its cheese processing capabilities.
It also plans to expand its role in the bioactive protein and nutraceuticals space, with trials already underway to extract immunoglobulins from milk, which have high bioreactive proteins that support the immune system.
The raise would be split with $16 million clearing debt, $7.5 million on ROI manufacturing projects including the vertical integration of cheese processing, $3 million on investments in bioactive protein and nutraceuticals, and $1.7 million on costs.
The ROI projects include water recycling and energy capture, stretching its milk for more mozzarella from the same amount of milk and the vertical integration plans.
Its Murray Bridge site is the storage site and secondary processing facility for Mables cream cheese. It is also where it manufactures its Vintage Cheddar, Gruyere, and Provolone.
Installing a cheese shred and pack capability would unlock latent capability and utility within the site, the company said.
If the raise is successful, Beston will invest in a third Lactoferrin extraction column, which would increase its output by six to eight tonnes.
