intraday. On Friday, the stock closed at
A$3.35.
The US coking coal miner had trimmed
the number of shares in the offering from
290m CDIs to about 193m, which were
sold at the bottom of an indicative price
RANGEûOFû!nû4HEûlNALûPRICEûGAVEû
a market capitalisation of A$3.79bn.
Energy & Mineral Group, a Texas-based
PRIVATEûINVESTMENTûlRM ûREMAINSûAûMAJORû
shareholder with about 78.9% of
Coronado’s total issued capital after the
IPO.
Goldman Sachs was the sole global
coordinator. It was also the joint lead
manager with Bell Potter Securities, Credit
Suisse, and UBS.
NUFARM COMPLETES A$303m
RIGHTS ISSUE
NUFARM, a crop protection and seeds
company, has completed a A$303m
(US$214m) underwritten entitlement offer
to fund the growth of its business.
The company raised A$31m from the
retail portion of the offering, representing
a participation rate of about 46%.
About 6.2m shares of the retail shortfall
were allocated in full to sub-underwriters,
given the shares were not priced above the
entitlement offer price of A$5.85 each,
according to a statement.
Approximately A$238m was earlier
raised in the institutional tranche with a
68% participation rate by eligible
institutional shareholders. Nufarm’s
largest shareholder Sumitomo Chemical,
with a 16.38% stake, did not participate in
the offering.
Nufarm sold 52m new shares at A$5.85
each on a 3-for-19 basis. The price
represented an 11.9% discount to the
closing price of A$6.64 on September 26.
“The equity raising helps ensure Nufarm
remains in a strong position to manage
short-term balance sheet risk, and
supports the continuation of the
company’s growth strategy in light of
recent market uncertainty,” said Grey
Hunt, Nufarm managing director and CEO.
Nufarm posted an annual net loss
because of a writedown of its Australian
business following dry weather conditions
on the east coast of the country, but the
company had said it expected a partial
recovery in 2019.
Its statutory net loss for the year to July
31 came in at A$15.6m, the company said,
COMPAREDûWITHûAûPROlTûOFû!MûLASTû
year. Barring one-off costs, the company’s
UNDERLYINGûNETûPROlTûFELLû
Macquarie and UBS were the joint lead
managers, bookrunners and underwriters
of the transaction.
CHINA
CLOUDMINDS MULLS IPOCLOUDMINDS TECHNOLOGY, a developer
of cloud-based robots backed by
SoftBank Group, is mulling an IPO ofup to US$1bn in the US or Hong Kong in
2019, according to people familiar with
the situation.
The AI and cloud-computing start-up,
which also counts Foxconn Technology
Group among its investors, is in discussion
with advisers about the potential listing,
said the people.EQUITIES ASIA-PACIFICPEXA waits amid market
sell-offs
AUSTRALIA ASX IPO postponement comes after Coronado cuts deal size and trades downPROPERTY EXCHANGE AUSTRALIA (PEXA) has
delayed a proposed ASX IPO of up to A$862m
(US$610m) as investors have turned cautious
amid global market sell-offs.
The Australian online property settlement
services provider put the deal on pause on
the last day of institutional bookbuilding last
Thursday, a person with knowledge of the matter
said, adding that the board would monitor the
situation over the next couple of weeks.
Asian markets saw deep sell-offs last Thursday
following a sharp drop in US markets overnight.
The benchmark ASX 200 index fell 2.83%, taking
its one-month drop to 8.76%.
Against this backdrop, PEXA failed to
generate enough institutional demand. The
company, which was scheduled to list on the
ASX on November 22, was slated to lodge its
prospectus last Friday before opening books for
retail buyers from November 5 to November 13.
PEXA’s postponement came a week after
CORONADO GLOBAL RESOURCES slashed its ASX
IPO size by 33% to A$774m. Despite pricing a
smaller deal at the bottom of the indicative price
range, its shares fell 10% on their trading debut
last Tuesday. The shares were still under water
on Friday.
“The IPO window is closed,” said Jason Teh, chief
investment officer at Sydney-based Vertium Asset
Management. “With the stock market sending a
cautious note, not many people would want to pay
high multiples for a fast-growing company.”
At a planned deal size of A$753m–$862m,
PEXA was poised to surpass MYOB’s A$833m
float in 2015 and become Australia’s biggest
domestic listing by a technology services firm.
The company set a price range of A$13.60–
$15.80 per share, representing an enterprise
value of A$1.8bn–$2.1bn.
Formed in 2010 to fulfil the Australian
government’s initiative to deliver a national
e-conveyancing solution to the country’s property
industry, PEXA is reported to have made losses of
A$40m in 2016 and A$79m in 2017.
However, it is expected to turn profitable
after a government mandate that all propertytransactions must be conducted via an electronic
platform, replacing the traditional paper-based
system. Victoria has kick-started the practice in
October, while Western Australia will go digital
by December and New South Wales in July next
year.PRIVATE SALE?
The IPO delay may put a private sale option back
on the table. PEXA declined a A$1.6bn offer from
a consortium led by shareholder Link Group in
favour of an IPO. But with the float in limbo, it
may now reconsider.
Some bankers close to the deal, however,
believe PEXA has a sound story to tell in an IPO.
The company is currently the only electronic
platform in Australia on which property market
participants can settle real estate transfers
online.
“The beauty of simplicity has made the
business appealing, and that would drive a
lot of interest to this float because it’s easy
for Australian people to understand how this
business works and how much time and money
it could save,” said one of the bankers before the
deal was put on hold.
A likely comparable of the business is NYSE-
listed software company Ellie Mae, which was
valued at US$2.76bn as of last Thursday.
PEXA is owned by a Macquarie-led
consortium. Macquarie has a stake of around
23.9%, followed by Link Group at 19.8%. The
other investors include Western Australian Land
Information Authority and the big four Australian
banks – Australia and New Zealand Banking
Group, Commonwealth Bank of Australia,
National Australia Bank and Westpac.
Link intends to sell approximately 12.5m of the
26.5m shares it currently holds through the IPO.
PEXA was expected to receive about A$80m
from the IPO through the sale of primary shares. It
planned to use the proceeds to invest in its digital
service and for general corporate purposes.
Macquarie and Morgan Stanley are working on
the deal.
Candy Chan