Mitsui-backed Campana plots $400 million ASX-listing; hires CLSA Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport Jun 19, 2024 – 6.18pm
Singapore-headquartered Campana Group, backed by Japanese trading and investment house Mitsui, is getting cosy with a little-known ASX-listed tiddler as it set its sights on a $400 million reverse takeover on the local bourse.
Campana has had Mitsui as an investor since 2018. Street Talk can reveal Campana will leverage its relationship with local cloud computing services outfit, Nexion Group, and seek to use Nexion as a vehicle to list on the ASX via a so-called “backdoor listing”.
The mooted deal is expected to be overseen by CLSA Australia, sources said. Campana and Nexion held an investment banking beauty parade earlier in the year to select an adviser, landing on CLSA based on its sprawling network and connections throughout Asia.
CLSA declined to comment when contacted on Wednesday.
Nexion is capitalised at a measly $4 million on the ASX and placed itself in voluntary suspension in April. It provides cloud services like data storage and networking and security solutions to its clients across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK It last traded at 2¢ a share, a 90 per cent discount to its IPO offer price of 20¢ in 2020.
Campana builds and owns network communication infrastructure, including its flagship SIGMAR subsea cable that stretches more than 2000 kilometres, connecting Singapore and Myanmar, landing in Tuas in Singapore and in Thanlyin, southeast of Yangon in Myanmar. Mitsui has been an investor since it co-led Campana’s $US40 million ($60 million) Series B equity raise in 2018.
It is early days in the process and a roadshow is not expected to get under way until the end of July, sources said. It will be interesting to see how much of Campana’s existing register – including Mitsui and Singapore private equity firm Tello Capital – are happy to sell down, given new ASX listings require a minimum 20 per cent free float.
Next on the list is valuation, with an early figure of $400 million being bandied about. Sources told Street Talk that Bridge Street Capital has been mandated as joint lead manager on the bookbuild, but neither firm had begun formally canvassing investors.
Campana owns infrastructure that provides connectivity and cloud solutions to South East Asian businesses and mobile operators. It was founded by Myint Ohn, an aerospace engineer.
NNG Price at posting:
2.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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