By PAUL PANCKHURST
A marine technology company seeking $20 million from a public share offer draws together a former Wellington mayor, a world champion yachtsman and a designer of military assault craft.
The company, CeAnic, sees opportunities in supplying technology for marine-related ventures as wide-ranging as boatbuilding, acquaculture, and offshore wind
farms.
The company is at the Viaduct Harbour and sprang out of a failed Danish/New Zealand bid for a New Zealand Navy contract.
CeAnic wants to raise $15 million through shares and $5 million through mandatory convertible notes. The initial public offer opened yesterday and closes on April 17.
The sales pitch: this is a novel chance for retail investors to get exposure to the marine industry.
CeAnic has 20 per cent stakes in four companies owned by naval architect John Harrhy and marine consultant Wayne Shaw.
Three of the businesses are start-ups and the fourth - Saba Yachts - is a months-old baby, part-way through building its first 24m "expedition ship" for international cruising.
The prospectus has no long-term financial forecasts and the company is not seeking a Stock Exchange listing.
Harrhy and Shaw have been issued 8 million convertible "founder shares" - or 34 per cent of the company if the float succeeds.
The stated incentive for Harrhy and Shaw to stay and work hard: those shares convert to ordinary shares in five years' time only if the company's value increases by 40 per cent.
Harrhy's design CV includes British mine-sweepers, Wellington's self-righting police boat, and military assault craft.
CeAnic's stated aim is to invest in technologies for aquaculture, boatbuilding, marine tourism and wind farms.
The chief executive is the former head of the Danish Trade Commission in Auckland, Hans Peder Wagner.
Denmark-based businessman Jesper Bank - a former world champion sailor last seen here as helmsman of Swedish America's Cup yacht Victory Challenge - is a director.
The company said the Danes hooked up with Shaw and Harrhy in a consortium bidding last year for a $500 million Navy contract but missed the shortlist.
CeAnic's chairman is former Dairy Board chairman John Storey and former Wellington mayor Fran Wilde is a director.
The three Harrhy/Shaw start-up companies CeAnic has invested in are: Smartships, to design and copyright seacraft; Dynamic Marine Systems, a software developer working on ShipFix, an intended global positioning system; and Guardian Capital Finance, a debt financer for the marine industry.
