OzForex Pty, an online foreign exchange company backed by Macquarie Group Ltd. (MQG) and Carlyle Group LP (CG), is considering an initial public offering that may raise as much as A$500 million ($462 million), three people with knowledge of the matter said.
OzForex is meeting investors to gauge their interest in a potential IPO that could take place as early as this year, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified as the process is private. The company’s owners, which include Accel Partners, are also considering a sale of OzForex to a single buyer, the people said.
At A$500 million, the IPO would be the largest in Australia in three years. The country’s benchmark S&P/ASX200 index has advanced 19 percent in the past 12 months as the central bank cut interest rates to spur economic growth amid a slowdown in China.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Macquarie are working with OzForex on the sale, the people said.
OzForex has 2 million monthly website visitors and had $12 billion of transactions last year, including money transfers and overseas payments. The company posted pretax profit of A$24.2 million on revenue of A$50 million for the 12 months through March, according to its website.
OzForex is considering a sale to other private equity firms as well as a potential IPO, Chief Executive Officer Neil Helm said in an interview with the Australian Financial Review last month. Helm didn’t specify the amount OzForex might seek, or name any potential buyers.
David Symons, an external spokesman for OzForex at Cato Counsel, said in an interview today that the company is meeting investors, without commenting further. Navleen Prasad, a Sydney-based spokeswoman for Macquarie, declined to comment. Hayley Morris, a Sydney-based spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs, could not immediately be reached.
An IPO could be the largest since rail company Aurizon Holdings Ltd. (AZJ) raised A$4.1 billion in October 2010, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Shopping Centres Australasia Property Group raised A$472 million in an IPO in October. Aurizon is up 78 percent from its offer price, while Shopping Centres (SCP) has gained 16 percent, the data show.
To contact the reporters on this story: Narayanan Somasundaram in Sydney at nsomasundara@bloomberg.net; Brett Foley in Melbourne at bfoley8@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Philip Lagerkranser at lagerkranser@bloomberg.net
No comments:
Post a Comment