BioVittoria

[Anna Naum]

Another listing coming up.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10608230

[Turboman]

I would be interested to see the IPO document, could be an interesting read.

[whatsup]

Where can one get this docu ? looks a interesting produce, there was a T V programme on it on Country Calender several monthe ago , very interesting.

[elZorro]

McDouall Stuart in Wellington are the Lead Managers and NZX sponsor for this IPO. I received my prospectus in the post today (document dated 6th Nov). It's along the line of the IPO for Glass Earth - just contact them and a prospectus will be posted to you along with an application form.

Shares are $1 each with a minimum of $3000 worth, looking to raise up to $20million. It closes on 25th November. It certainly looks interesting, plenty of feel-good features.

[Lizard]

Companies office might have it available in the next few days - currently showing as not available. Can get the accounts there though.

[adventi]

I would be interested to see the IPO document, could be an interesting read.

Here's the prospectus... Looking good


http://www.biovittoria.com/Live/22249%20PureLo%20Prospectus_LR.pdf

[Lizard]

Here is a link to the NZ patent (under application in other countries):
Sweetening Compositions and Processes for Preparing them (http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?wo=2008030121)

[Lizard]

Interesting Clinical trial for effect on Hepatitis C:
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00926120

Will check status of the patent at USPTO at some stage - portal is down at the moment.

[Anna Naum]

I had time last night to read the prospectus. What a joke. Caveat Emptor is all I can suggest on this one. Just reading the prospectus should be enough.

[Dr_Who]

I had time last night to read the prospectus. What a joke. Caveat Emptor is all I can suggest on this one. Just reading the prospectus should be enough.

Anna, can you please give us a summary?

Cheers

[Lizard]

I liked last years financial projections better...
Biovittoria Flyer (http://biovittoria.com/Live/BioVittoriaFlyer.pdf)

[Lizard]

I have had a bit of a look at the literature etc in regard to this one.

My take is that there is quite an opportunity in the food industry for the use of mogroside V. It seems to be at least as sweet as aspartame and likely to be perceived as healthier - possibly even have some use in pharma.

What BioVittoria is offering is a very pure form which appears to be manufactured by resin extraction (hope they're not planning to use the ticker BIO!). Resin extraction is not a cheap process and, from my reading, they are perhaps looking at a price point around 10x more expensive than aspartame (difficult to get comparative pricing though - any other info welcome!). While various forms of concentrated mogrosides are sold as a sweetener, PureLo is more pure and likely to contain less associated flavours.

It appears BioVittoria will not be the only supplier of pure Mogroside V (http://www.biopurify.com/details.asp?id=259). It is not clear what process Chengdu Biopurify Phytochemicals is using and whether it overlaps with BV's international patent application. While the Proctor & Gamble patent should restrict competition (currently licensed to two other companies), it expires in 2014, so does not leave alot of time to establish market dominance.

It is interesting to note how BV's plans and projections have altered somewhat in the past year. They appear to have slashed revenue projections and decided that NZX listing was appropriate (previously said they would list overseas). At a wild guess, I am thinking perhaps their earlier forecasts included sales for soft-drink manufacture which they now consider to be less likely (Stevia has since received GRAS status and is in use by Coca Cola and Pepsi). Cost may have played a role.

On the latest forecast financials, it is difficult to get excited, since the company intends to be borrowing into the forseeable future to fund cashflows. However, this would be a very difficult product to forecast at this point and volumes could end up very different from projections. Momentum could build or ebb quite dramatically. Either way, the swing towards low glycaemic index foods is only just taking hold so a market-pull opportunity exists. BV's success in it appears to be most likely determined by their production cost and marketing effort to establish early dominance.

This is very much a "flamingo company" situation - balanced on one proposition that could succeed or fail dramatically. I think it would be an interesting punt, although I will probably "pass" at this point.

[Dr_Who]

Thanks Lizard.

All sounds very complicated for me as I know nothing about health science.

I have a rule not to invest in anything I dont understand and this is one of them.

[Aeneas]

In case anyone is interested

[brucey09]

senors
do not forget that other start up - bio

[neopoleII]

im still hurting from my big investment into BLT 9 years ago.
im very weary of start up bio companies.
they offer blue sky, but generally they just rain money down the drain.
the sad thing with BLT, the original share holders have been diluted to worthless, and the fresh money gets the reward.

this new bio co seems to promise the promises.
good luck for those who invest, may it not rain.

[tango]

As i understand it from reading the patent application it's not the mogroside V under patent it's the process of extracting it and the combination with other products which presumably enhance the properties. this would make it unique. however when you study further there are other scientists out there also working with mogroside V to stabilise it into a sweetener so that means there is a lot of potential competition. also there are other things in nature that have similar sweetness and could also be developed to compete so it's got competition from existing products, other forms of processed mogroside V and potential new products

i agree very blue sky. keeping in mind all the problems stevia has had getting acceptance in the US market and battles with FDA (http://www.kefir.net/spray/steviavegtimes.htm) they have a long road ahead of them. first FDA banned stevia in all forms, then it was only allowed as a supplement and then after a 14 or 15 year battle it got approved as a sweetener in commercial applications.

stevia has a bitter after taste and this is meant to be tasteless but i still foresee major problems if it is priced at 10x the market price for competing products

[tango]

More on BioVittoria here (http://www.sharechat.co.nz/article/40b51987/biovittoria-depends-on-new-food-launches-for-growth.html). Basically they need this new share capital for their survival and they're targeting adding their product to new products and niche markets.