The Great Northern Distillery in Dundalk will open its doors in the New Year and with Irish whiskey sales continually on the rise, people are now being invited to invest in the business run by former Cooley Distillery boss, John Teeling.
Work is currently ongoing at the former Great Northern/Harp Lager brewery to convert it into a 3.6 million litre pot still and an 8 million litre column still distillery.
The distillery, which will be overseen by former Cooley managers Teeling, James Finn and David Hayes is being built for the mass production of grain whiskey for use in blended whiskeys, which make up the overwhelming bulk of the Irish market.
According to The Sunday Business Post, the distillery is expected to come on stream in mid-2015, with three customers already in place.
The final piece in the process of getting the project off the ground is to secure extra funding for fit out and this is where the investment opportunity lies.
Overall, the Great Northern Distillery is looking to raise €2.5m and it is doing this through the Employment and Investment Incentive Scheme (EIIS).
Available for a minimum three year term, investors must provide a maximum of €25,000 and a maximum of €150,000, with a targeted return of 112%.
Tax relief is available at 30% in year one, with a further 11% in year four, making 41% in total.
Assuming top marginal tax rates are accessible by the investor, the expected IRR would equal circa 18%, or a times investment multiple of about 1.5.
“This is a low-risk investment of a type that has worked well for us before,” said Teeling.
“We want to raise €2.5 million through the EIIS scheme and we expect another investor to come in with around €5m and that will cover everything, leaving plenty of money to distill.”
For further information email Ireland@cantorfitzgerald.com or visit www.cantorfitzgerald.ie
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