With rum being the second largest spirit category in the world, investors are being offered the opportunity of a lifetime – the chance to invest in a new rum distillery in Sydney.
No other spirit has such a rich association with Sydney.
The first currency of the fledgling Australian colony wasn’t the English pound; it was rum.
The so-called Rum Rebellion of 1808 saw the only successful armed takeover of government in Australian history. Governor William Bligh – yes, the same Bligh who had previously suffered a mutiny on the Bounty – was deposed after shutting down the rum trade.
The new capital raising for the Sydney Rum Distillery Proprietary Limited is being run by online platform PrimaryMarkets with a state-of-the-art distillery planned to open in 2019.
Sydney Rum Distillery with PrimaryMarkets.com is seeking up to A$25M from Sophisticated/Professional/Institutional/Accredited Investors.
The operation is the brainchild of Chris Middleton and manufacturing and retail veteran David Ward. Chris’s experience includes stints as brand director at Jack Daniel’s, other international spirits brands and more recently founding the New World Whisky Distillery (STARWARD) in Melbourne that has recently won several international awards.
Chris Middleton of Sydney Rum Distillery said:
“Even though today is the first time our Company is asking for funding from outside investors we have been working on Sydney Rum Distillery since 2014 and we are now in the position of having everything in place to commercialise this opportunity. We have identified a number of potential sites for acquisition. The plant and equipment for the distillery are ready to be configured to our engineering specifications and purchase criteria; we are also forming an R&D partnership with a university, as well as, our marketing efforts are planned to access international markets for our rum production. Our goal to create exciting, modern brands to market premium Australian rum to a fast growing international consumer. We are seeking like-minded investors to realise this ambition.”
SRD will be the most advanced and versatile distillery in the world using new (all-natural) R&D processes to produce rums of extraordinary new sensory standards. The goal is to take rum to a new level, yet making it easily attainable to consumers (price to value).
SRD has established the world’s best technical production team to ensure only exceptional rums will be made; supported by advisory teams across multiple disciplines, including legal, IT, sustainability, solar, distribution, marketing to engineering and project management. Making SRD the most technically advanced and versatile distillery ever built, pioneering new processes (major R&D capability) to advance the sensory qualities of rum.
SRD will make new and exciting flavours to lift modern rum standards, while innovative brand marketing strategies will energetically recruit and retain premium spirits drinkers.
Rum is Australia’s third largest spirits category (14% share, premium segment enjoying 15% CAGR growth) and second largest spirit category worldwide. There has been little capital investment in the Rum industry with 99% of rum production based in developing and underdeveloped markets (e.g. Caribbean, India, Philippines etc.); unlike whisky, brandy, gin and other spirit categories based in developed countries (US, UK, France, etc). In the past few years alone, several billion dollars have been invested in the whisky industry to deliver greater R & D, quality control and capital investment.
Rum has been an overlooked and under-developed category; it is this premium opportunity SRD is targeting with science and imagination to redefine the modern rum experience.
Despite the Emerald City’s storied associations with the spirit, no rum has been distilled in Sydney since the CSR facility at Pyrmont shut down in 1986.
So if you fancy owning a piece of your very own rum distillery, head over to PrimaryMarkets.com.
Chris Middleton said:
“This is a great opportunity for sophisticated and institutional investors to be a part of the proud yet new history of rum distilling in Sydney, and its exciting future. We are really thrilled to be working with PrimaryMarkets for our funding raising as we see them as the new age platform for funding new age enterprises such as Sydney Rum Distillery.”
Nick Capp, MD/CEO of PrimaryMarkets said:
“We are delighted to be assisting the Sydney Rum Distillery team. Our platform offers many different investment opportunities in private companies and unlisted assets, but it’s fair to say that not many of them will taste as good as this one.”