Steadfast Group Ltd., Australia’s largest network of insurance brokers, plans to raise as much as A$562.8 million ($515 million) in the country’s biggest initial public offering since 2010.
The Sydney-based company plans to sell as many as 469 million shares for A$1.20 each, it said in a statement today. Including debt, the sale values the business at as much as 9.6 times forecast earnings before interest, taxes and amortization in the year ending June 2014, Steadfast said.
The planned IPO is Australia’s biggest since Westfield Retail Trust listed in December 2010, and comes after the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index suffered its first quarterly decline in a year. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Macquarie Group Ltd., managing the sale, are poised to benefit after weathering in the past two years Australia’s weakest IPO market this century.
Steadfast “operates in a resilient industry where there are stable and profitable growth opportunities,” Managing Director Robert Kelly said in the statement.
The company, formed in 1996, provides services to about 280 insurance-broking businesses across Australia. The network generates A$4.1 billion in insurance sales annually, according to Steadfast’s website.
The IPO price will be set July 30 and the stock is due to trade in Sydney Aug. 14. Management and staff will own as much as 47 percent of the shares after the listing, the company said.
Editor: John McCluskey
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