Maggie Beer just sold the rest of her food business to Longtable Group

Food & Agriculture Daniel Paproth
Maggie Beer just sold the rest of her food business to Longtable Group

Maggie Beer. Pic: Robert Prezioso / Getty

Australian food icon Maggie Beer has now completely sold off her eponymous food business to food and beverage small cap Longtable Group (ASX:LON), which also launched a $15.9 million capital raise to set itself up for 2019 and beyond.

Longtable bought a 48 per cent stake in the Barossa Valley-based Maggie Beer Products back in 2016, and announced this morning it had paid $10 million for the remaining 52 per cent of the company that Ms Beer held.

Ms Beer will join Longtable as a director and will spend two years as a brand ambassador, though she told the Sydney Morning Herald late last week at 74 she was looking forward to giving up 70-hour working weeks.

Longtable also launched a $15.9 million capital raise split into two parts — $2.2 million to institutional investors and $13.7 million in a rights issue.

The raise is being done at a significant discount of 20c, which sent the Longtable share price down 34 per cent to 22c.

Longtable Group (ASX:LON) shares in the past year.

Longtable reported that Maggie Beer Products had grown its revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the first half of 2019.

The Maggie Beer name does not appear to be going anywhere, either, with Longtable saying leveraging her brand was a key reason for acquiring the company in full.

“Longtable’s growth strategy for Maggie Beer Products focuses on leveraging the strong brand equity of the brand to introduce new customers that believe in not just Maggie but all that Maggie Beer stands for: inspirational, authentic and gracious,” it said.

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