Hi all, any thoughts?
Employment and disability services company APM has locked in its trip to the ASX boards, following a round of meetings with cornerstone investors.
It is understood APM will seek to raise $972 million at $3.55 a share for its initial public offering, in a deal valuing it at 21 times forecast net profit after tax and amortisation and 12.7-times EBITDA.
Eighty per cent of the IPO size has been allocated to cornerstone investors, including Australian and offshore institutions, all but guaranteeing APM’s lists next month.
APM and its lead managers will seek to sell the remaining 20 per cent of the IPO to other institutional investors and retail investors in coming days.
It’s the fourth $1 billion-plus float to secure a trip to the ASX boards in the past two weeks. The others include fund manager GQG Partners, software company SiteMinder and challenger bank Judo Bank.
The strong showing from cornerstone investors saw the IPO price fixed and float timetable accelerated. The cornerstone investors include domestic and global long only managers and ESG-focussed funds.
The deal is expected to be underwritten by APM’s lead managers, which include Goldman Sachs, UBS, Credit Suisse and Bank of America.
APM founder Megan Wynne would own about a 35 per cent stake in the company on listing, while private equity backer Madison Dearborn Partners would retain about 30 per cent.
A big part of the cornerstone investors’ diligence was known to be testing APM’s government contracts, including NESM (formerly jobactive) where a tender process is underway.
APM is the biggest provider in disability employment services in Australia, as measured by Australian federal government funding, and the No.2 player in jobactive as measured by locations.
It started in Australia and has expanded to Europe, North America and other parts of Asia Pacific, including New Zealand.
BOOK MESSAGE
The APM IPO price has been set at $3.55 via a successful cornerstone processThis represents a FY22E P/NPATA of 21.0x and a EV/EBITDA of 12.7x80% of the $972m IPO size has been allocated firm to cornerstone participants.
