Macquarie Capital bankers are out in the market seeking to drum up trade and private equity interest in online electricity retailer Click Energy.
While Click fronted fund managers in pre-IPO meetings arranged by Macquarie late last year, Street Talk understands the company's owners now have Macquarie drumming up a dual-track sale process.
Click has been shopped around to rival electricity retailers including the big three, the smaller but growth-focused Alinta Energy and Snowy Hydro's Red Energy, and other utility providers such Telstra and TPG Telecom, and private equity firms. testing their interest in the business.
An information memorandum has been sent to the more interested parties and sale marketing is said to compare Click to the likes of First Utility in the UK and Cirius Energy in the US, which has grown to almost 1 million customers since 2012.
The relevance is that both pure-play energy retailers have been able to stake a claim among bigger and more established players in their respective markets.
It is understood Click said it had $12 million in earnings before interest and tax in the 2016 financial year, with customer numbers growing at an average of 65 per cent each year over the past five years. Profit was also said to have been up 25 per cent year-on-year in the 2015 and 2016 financial years, with a similar run rate forecast for 2017.
As always, potential buyers are treading carefully. Click's a small upstart compared to the big players AGL Energy, Origin Energy and EnergyAustralia, with the online disrupter accounting for 1 per cent market share.
There is also some concern among those approached about how "sticky" Click's customers are. Click runs an online-only business.
As such, it has traditionally appealed tech savvy customers who are arguably better equipped to shop around and switch between providers depending on who has the best deal going.
Whatever happens, expect to hear more of Click in coming months. The IPO leg of the dual-track is said to be in front, which means Click is another ASX-aspirant seeking time in front of fund managers post reporting season.
