Gentrack IPO priced at $2.40, raising $36 mln of new capital

Friday 6th June 2014

Gentrack Group, which develops utilities and airports software, will sell its shares at $2.40 in this month's initial public offer, raising $36 million of new capital, and letting its owners sell down their holdings.

The company will sell 15 million new shares and the existing owners will sell 26.3 million for a total offer of $99.1 million after the price was set in a bookbuild process for institutional investors and participating brokers, Auckland-based Gentrack said in a statement. The price is near the top end of the $2 to $2.50 range touted when the prospectus was lodged last month. The price implies Gentrack will have a market value of $174.5 million, which would make it the 62nd biggest company on the NZX All Index.

The new funds raised will go to paying down Gentrack's debt, and the existing shareholders will keep about 43.2 percent of the company after the sale.

"Gentrack is heartened by the keen interest from institutional investors in New Zealand and Australia, as well as strong retail interest," chairman John Clifford said. "The successful IPO positions the company to build on its strong track record of delivering mission critical software solutions to customers in New Zealand and overseas."

The company’s two software products are Gentrack Velocity, a billing product for energy and water utilities, and airport management system Airport 20/20. The products had originally been developed by Talgentra, an Auckland-based company that was sold to Australian metering company Bayard and ANZ Capital in 2009.

Clifford and executive director James Docking, who has run the Gentrack business since 1995, teamed up to buy Talgentra in 2012. Gentrack has 150 utility and airport customers in 20 countries, and employs 180 people in offices in Auckland, Melbourne and London, according to its statement. Sales in the 12 months ended Sept. 31, 2013, were $40 million, generating a profit of $6.6 million.

The retail offer, which is open to the clients of participating brokers, opens on June 9 and closes on June 20, with listing on the NZX and ASX expected on June 25.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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