AUSTRALIA'S market leading olive oil farming and processing business Cobram Estate Olives has listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with the ticker code CBO, and initial share price sell offers ranging from $1.80 to $1.90.
Founded in 1998 by Paul Riordan and Rob McGavin, Cobram Estate's business is centred on the homegrown olive oil brands, Cobram Estate and Red Island.
It recently extended its product range to include a variety of health and wellness products sold under the Wellgrove brand which helps make use of olive oil byproducts and minimise the company's waste footprint
Cobram Estate produces about 71 per cent of Australia's olive oil crop from more than 2.4 million olive trees growing on 18,000 hectares in central and north-western Victoria.
It also has a big nursery, three olive mills, and two olive oil bottling, oil storage, and warehousing facilities, plus 300ha of US olive groves in California.
Cobram Estate's Australian production area is set to expand by another 3000 hectares in the next decade, largely from trees already planted.
The company, which has a listed capitalisation value of almost $33m exports to 17 countries.
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Until it listed on the ASX, Cobram had about 850 shareholders, but it was also offering an eligible employees gift deal of 500 shares each, releasing an extra 64,000 shares for the offer.
"Until now shares were owned by founding shareholders, family, friends, friends of friends and employees, many of whom have been investors for more than 20 years," said chairman Rob McGavin.
"Since Paul Riordan and I founded the company we've become the market leader in the Australian olive oil industry, a leader in sustainable olive farming with operations here and in the USA, and have grown a portfolio of premium brands."
Mr McGavin said olive trees were a natural carbon sink, and while carbon capture capacity varied from grove to grove, the International Olive Council estimated producing one litre of extra virgin olive oil captures an average of 10.65 kilograms of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
"We are committed to operating our business in an environmentally sustainable way and are working to achieve zero-waste on our olive groves," he said.
The business was well positioned for future growth for its new investor base, having spent more than $200m on capital improvements to upgrade operations and support its longer term strategies, including growing its vertically integrated American business.
"Paul and I are so proud of what we've achieved in the past two decades and excited about the future for Cobram Estate Olives."
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Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
