Afr article 19th January

• The Search Party to backdoor list into Applabs
  
• 
  
• Jan 19 2016 at 5:15

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The Search Party chief executive Ben Hutt says the business will consider making acquisitions with the extra capital it will receive from the backdoor ASX listing. Jessica Hromas
by Yolanda Redrup
Recruitment start-up The Search Party will use cash raised as part of a backdoor listing into ASX-listed tech investment company Applabs Technologies, to kick-start an expansion into Asia and acquisition plan.

The news comes just months after the online recruitment marketplace, which uses a matching algorithm to help businesses find the best employees faster, signalled plans to do an initial public offering in 2016.

Chief executive Ben Hutt said this was not the standard backdoor listing that investors may have become used to. "Applabs is a tech investment business, not the shell of a mining company," he said. "The people are financially and tech savvy, they got what we're trying to do and saw value in it."

Applabs has also already invested $500,000 in the company, as part of a capital raising the business began in 2015. This valued Search Party at $25 million.

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"Applabs also brings with them $3 million in cash, and we have commitments for $4 million of our $5-7 million capital raise, so this will give us scope to grow the business, enter new markets and possibly even make some acquisitions," Mr Hutt said.

"When we were approached by this tech shell which had a nice chunk of cash on board, it wasn't that it was easier than doing an IPO, it just seemed natural to some extent."

Under the structure of the deal, which is technically a takeover because The Search Party has more than 50 shareholders, Search Party shareholders will receive 198 shares in Applabs for each Search Party share.

The Search Party follows in the footsteps of other listed HR technology companies, 1-Page and Reffind. Both businesses have had strong rises in their share prices, but have fallen back from their respective highs of $5.69 and $1.97.


ALA
APPLABS FPO (ALA)
$0.170.000.00%
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Currently Reffind is trading around 50¢, a 75 per cent fall in value since late October.

But Mr Hutt is not concerned by the recent performances of his rivals.

"There is masses of appetite from what we're seeing. Reffind should never have been at $2, just like 1-Page shouldn't have been at $5," he said.

"This is one of the biggest opportunities on the market right now for tech. I don't spend much time worrying about other companies' share prices."


The Search Party, which is backed by a founder investor in Freelancer, Josh Rogers, as well as Trever Loewensohn and Carthona Capital, expanded to Canada in July and intends to enter the US in the second half of 2016.

The UK is its fastest growing market. "For the next three months we're focused on existing markets, but later in the year we're talking about going to the US and we've also been approached by people in Asia," Mr Hutt said.

"With The Search Party we have a fab business model which will outlive any excesses in the share price. But there are some crappy businesses out there and there are going to be winners and losers."

The timeline for the business is to begin trading on the ASX in 12 weeks.



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