Rangatira increases Stake in Magritek

Wellington, New Zealand: Institutional investor Rangatira Limited (Rangatira) today announced that it has increased its stake in Magritek, world leading provider of benchtop NMR and MRI instruments.

Last year Rangatira, the Wellington-based investment company, acquired a 12% stake in Magritek for an undisclosed sum. As part of that transaction, Rangatira entered into a conditional undertaking to provide further capital and lift its stake to 18%, subject to Magritek hitting certain milestones.

Rangatira chief executive Phil Veal said, “This investment reflects our aim to invest in growing, internationally competitive New Zealand businesses. Magritek is a great New Zealand company with strong prospects for sustained growth.”

The capital will strengthen Magritek’s balance sheet and enable the company to increase its investment in offshore sales and marketing in order to capitalise on the success of its new Spinsolve^TM Benchtop NMR spectrometer, which was launched last year.

Magritek chief executive Dr Andrew Coy said, “Magritek has achieved significant revenue growth on the back of sales of Spinsolve^TM.

“Spinsolve^TM is a unique offering in that it provides the market with fast, accurate NMR analysis of liquid samples, in a convenient package, at a very competitive price. The academic community were early adopters with initial sales to universities in Australia, Europe and the USA. More recently, we have attracted strong interest from industry customers, such as the pharmaceutical and food industries who appreciate the instrument’s unique benefits for reaction monitoring and quality control with its ability to deliver superb spectra in seconds.

“Rangatira’s investment provides the means to invest further in our sales capability, and capitalise on the interest in our powerful, portable MRI and NMR technology. This second tranche of capital allows us to add further fuel to the tank and accelerate revenue growth and market share.”

Magritek produces a range of MRI and NMR products including: the world’s only student-safe MRI teaching system the Terranova-MRI; the Kea compact spectrometer console; and its NMR Rock Core Analyzer product which provides hydrocarbon reservoir core analysis for the oil and gas sector.

The company’s main markets are currently Europe and the United States, each accounting for 40% of the company’s revenues. However, the company is forecasting significant growth in Asia in the near future.

ENDS

About Magritek

Founded in 2004, Magritek is an advanced technology company exporting from Germany and New Zealand to customers all over the world. The initial technology and IP used in Magritek products was developed by research teams at RWTH University, Germany, and Massey University and Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.

Today, Magritek provides complete NMR and MRI solutions and applications for Chemical, Oil and Gas, Food and Construction Industries as well as systems suitable for Research Laboratories and Academic Education.

For details on Magritek and all its products & solutions, visit www.magritek.com

About Rangatira Limited

Rangatira is a Wellington-based investment company with shareholders’ funds of around $200 million. Established in 1937, the Company is 51% owned by the JR McKenzie Trust with other community and charitable organisations owning another 15% of the shares. The balance of the shares is owned by private investors. Rangatira’s mission is to increase both the capital value of its shares and the dividends paid to its shareholders by investing creatively and competitively.

Rangatira has built a portfolio of local and international investments across a wide range of sectors. The Company has pursued a policy of investment in small to medium-sized unlisted New Zealand companies, complemented by holdings in a range of publicly listed New Zealand, Australian and international companies. All investments have been made taking a long-term position in companies that are well founded and well managed with good growth potential.

Rangatira is strictly commercial in its investment approach and benchmarks its performance against the wider investment community.

Rangatira will continue to explore investment opportunities across a range of business sectors. We aim to add value to our unlisted investments by actively contributing at management and board level, recognising the need to combine high standards of governance with sound management and a clear focus on growth and profitability.

Rangatira’s shares are listed and traded on the Unlisted market (www.unlisted.co.nz).

02:38PM Tuesday, 07 October, 2014