Terms out for Wagners initial public offering

IPO hopeful Wagners Holdings is seeking to raise up to $196.8 million in a deal that would value the diversified construction materials company at $437.3 million.

IPO hopeful Wagners Holdings is seeking to raise up to $196.8 million in a deal that would value the diversified construction materials company at $437.3 million.

Joint lead managers Credit Suisse and Morgans sent terms to fund managers on Monday, outlaying Wagners' efforts to list on the ASX boards.

The offer has been priced at between $2.63 and $2.71, which represents 18.42 times to 18.85 times forecast net profit. The exact price will be set at an institutional bookbuild on November 17.

If successful, Wagners will start trading on December 18. 

The founding Wagner family is keeping plenty of skin in the game. The term sheet shows it will retain almost 90 million shares, or 55 per cent of the group after its listing. And the stake will be held in escrow until after the 2019 financial year results, giving investors further confidence there will be no quick exit. 

The IPO launch comes after Credit Suisse valued Wagners' equity at as much as $437 million in pre-marketing research sent to fund managers last Monday ahead of this week's management roadshow.

The Swiss bank's equity valuation range of $353 million to $437 million equates to 15.2 times to 18.7 times forecast net profit or 8.3 times to 9.9 times on an enterprise value/earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation basis.

Meanwhile, analysts at Brisbane-based stockbroking and advisory firm Morgans set a $472 million to $512 million equity valuation range on the company.

Wagners was founded in 1989 in Toowoomba, Queensland by Henry, John, Denis, Neill, and Joe Wagner.

The company, which also owns Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport and Wellcamp Business Park, started with three trading divisions - Wagners Concrete, Quarries and Transport. 

It has since expanded into cement, flyash and lime, reinforcing steel, on site concrete supply, contract crushing and bulk transport, as well as lightweight composite fibre products. 

IPO proceeds will be used to pay down debt. 

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CHAMP to chase more deals after Jaybro buy

CHAMP has won the race for infrastructure project supplies company Jaybro, and will pay about $170 million for the business, Street Talk can reveal.

CHAMP has won the race for infrastructure project supplies company Jaybro, and will pay about $170 million for the business, Street Talk can reveal.

It is understood the John Haddock-led firm will use Jaybro as a springboard for growth in the sector and has up to five acquisition targets lined up that could be bolted on to the Sydney-based company. 

The deal, signed in the early hours of Sunday morning, comes after Street Talk flagged last week that CHAMP was the frontrunner in the auction and had set up a new investment vehicle, dubbed Infrastructure Supply Holdings to accommodate the potential purchase. 

The transaction sees CHAMP acquire 100 per cent of Jaybro's equity, and will also go down as one of the more memorable in CHAMP's storied history given the links between Jaybro and its founder Steven Joyce and the controversial Brethren Christian group.

It is understood the change of control ends any links between the church and Jaybro, although the founder's son, Jeremy Joyce, will continue to run the business.

Jaybro is a supplier of all sorts of goods required for building infrastructure projects, including temporary fencing and barriers, traffic signs and drainage equipment. It has annual earnings worth just north of $20 million and about $100 million revenue. 

The deal is notable for the similarities between Jaybro and a smaller business called RSEA, which is a specialist provider of workwear, personal and workplace safety and hirer of road safety equipment, owned by CHAMP Ventures.

Sources said it would not surprise to see CHAMP or the Jaybro underbidders, which included ASX-listed conglomerate Wesfarmers, private equity firm Crescent Capital Partners and a handful of offshore trade parties, turn their attention to RSEA.  

Jaybro was advised by Greenhill Australia and Allen & Overy, while CHAMP took its counsel from Gilbert + Tobin and EY.  

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Structuring Monitoring Systems raises for acquisition

Testing company Structural Monitoring Systems is in front of fund managers seeking an $11 million equity injection on Monday morning. 

Testing company Structural Monitoring Systems is in front of fund managers seeking an $11 million equity injection on Monday morning. 

The company's shares went into a trading halt as its broker Hunter Capital Advisors started drumming up support for the offer. 

Structural Monitoring Systems was seeking to raise $11 million at $1.25 a share, which was a 10¢ discount to the last close. 

Funds raised were to acquire an aircraft audio systems designer and manufacturer, Anodyne Electronics Manufacturing Corp, which is well known to Structural Monitoring Systems. 

Hunter Capital was calling for bids by 4pm on Monday, according to terms sent to potential investors. 

Structural Monitoring Systems boss Toby Chandler is expected to apply for $1 million of new stock, while the company's largest shareholder Drake Private Investments is taking $2 million of the placement. 

The company would have a $139 million market capitalisation post the raising. 

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Scott Briggs rounds up big names for visa play, $1b IPO contender

Oracle, PwC, Qantas Airways, NAB and Ellerston Capital are among parties involved in a new bid to run large parts of Australia's visa and citizenship system.

Former Nine Entertainment Group commercial director and long-time confidant to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Briggs, is spearheading an ambitious bid to create Australia's next $1 billion-plus listed technology and business processes company.

Street Talk can reveal Briggs has put together a consortium of heavyweight financial markets and information technology players to bid for a federal government contract that could be worth billions of dollars.

It is understood the group includes Briggs' new private investment firm Pacific Blue Capital, New York-listed software giant Oracle, PwC Australia, and funds manager Ellerston Capital, which has helped raised capital to fund the first stage of the tender process. [Ellerston chief investment officer Ashok Jacob is overseeing the consortium as chairman.]

Qantas Airways and National Australia Bank are also involved, boosting the group's credentials to be the "Australian" option in a race set to play out under the watch of the Department of Immigration in coming months.

If successful, Briggs' consortium is expected to seek an ASX-listing, with investment bank Credit Suisse already lined up to advise on a potential float worth more than $1 billion. However, investors have been told such a move could be some time away.

The plans were unveiled as part of a pitch to seed investors and key consortium members in recent months, many of which were locked into the deal during the past fortnight, sources said.

Briggs did not return calls seeking comment on Sunday.

The group is seeking to win the right to run large parts of Australia's visa and citizenship system, with the Department of Immigration looking for a private operator to modernise and streamline processes for the country's eight million visa applications each year.

The government released a consultation paper and kicked off talks with industry players and interested parties in June, including briefings in Sydney, Canberra, San Francisco, Singapore and Bengaluru.

It's released a detailed expression of interest document to various parties and is expected to return with more detail about the tender and bidding process in coming months.

Briggs' group is expected to go up against a number of consortiums, which are also said to be forming. IBM is understood to be heavily involved in one rival camp, working with consultants Anderson Group.

Australia Post, which plays a key role in Australia's passports and visa systems, is also said to be in-and-around the situation.

Sources close to the process said bidding groups would need expertise in building software infrastructure and financial players, which could help fund the new system and roll-out. That includes firms with vetting systems, such as biometric testing and facial recording, and deep-pocketed investors who could help fund the large IT project.

Interestingly, Briggs' consortium is believed to have also enlisted niche service providers Biometix and Aspen Medical.

Should Briggs' bid secure the contract, listing the business would help backers realise their investment, and allow ownership to transfer to new shareholders with a lower cost of capital and different time horizon. It would be a similar model to that used by electronic property records system PEXA, whose owners including the big four banks and state governments are actively considering a sharemarket listing now that its system is built and operating.

The visa system move is part of the government's wider push to create more efficient IT infrastructure and processes, and keep those jobs in Australia where possible, under the watch of assistant minister for digital transformation, Angus Taylor.

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Banks line up to get Fletcher Building off the canvas

Fletcher Building is the hottest topic on the lips of industrials sector bankers.

Fletcher Building is the hottest topic on the lips of industrials sector bankers. 

In two weeks' time, former UGL boss Ross Taylor will settle his feet under the Fletcher CEO's desk and start his review of the $6 billion building products company's strategy. 

There is nothing like a new CEO's fresh perspective to shake some deals loose. Mergers, asset sales, spin-offs, equity raisings - you name it, it's all expected to be considered.

Industrials bankers are working to make sure they have plenty of ideas for Taylor once he and his board are ready to hear them. They're busily compiling pitchbooks, keen to get in before any formal request for proposal is in the market.

Analysts reckon laminate surfacing brand Formica - which had $NZ88 million earnings last year - could be the first asset on the block and fetch about eight-times earnings. Bankers, though, know it is not the first time Fletcher will have heard that idea. 

The dual-listed Fletcher also has a history of sharing around its investment banking work, tapping each of the advisers with teams on both sides of the Tasman. 

Goldman Sachs and Macquarie Capital handled the company's last equity raising - a $NZ505 million deal to repay debt in 2009 - while Credit Suisse/First NZ advised it on the $200 million-odd sale of Rocla Quarry Products last year. 

Macquarie held Fletcher's hand when it bought Crane Group for more than $800 million in 2011, while UBS knows chairman Ralph Norris well. 

For what it is worth, Taylor has his chairman's blessing to shake things up, and some of Fletcher's bigger shareholders are also keen to see action after a 38 per cent drop in the share price this year. 

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