Metroglass bookbuild sets sale price at $1.70: sources

Metroglass bookbuild sets sale price at $1.70, near bottom end of range: sources

By Suze Metherell

July 4 (BusinessDesk) - Metro Performance Glass, New Zealand's largest glass maker, will sell shares at $1.70 apiece in an initial public offering, near the bottom of the range, say institutional investors who had previously baulked at Hirepool's offer.

In a bookbuild overnight Metroglass price came in at the lower end of the $1.65 to $1.90 range. The pricing comes after the Hirepool float fell over because the promoters’ suggestion of price was at odds with institutions. Two fund managers have confirmed the price to BusinessDesk.

"I think the Hirepool offer was a turning point because it showed it wasn't that there was a boycott of Hirepool, it was just that we all went for much lower prices," said Brian Gaynor, executive director at Milford Asset Management, which participated in the Metroglass bookbuild. "I think we're just going to play a bit more tough on the vendors in these situations and not be prepared to pay whatever they think they want to get for it."

Metroglass was aiming to sell between $237 million and $273 million, offering shares at between 12.5 to 14.5 times earnings. A draft prospectus has been in the hands of fund managers since Monday, while retail investors may have to wait until next week for details, when the company lodges its prospectus with the Companies Office.

The Metroglass vendor is Australian private equity company Crescent Capital, which has owned the Auckland-based business for six years, but it is not yet known if they are partially or fully selling down. Anchorage Capital and other major shareholders are also selling down in the float.

Meanwhile, Scales Corp, the fruit and vegetable logistics group, will sell shares at the bottom of its indicative range in a $148.8 million initial public offer.

The Christchurch-based company will sell 93 million shares at $1.60, the bottom of the $1.60 to $1.85 indicative range, after institutional investors set the price in a bookbuild. Of the $148.8 million, Scales will raise $30 million of new capital and its shareholders will sell into the float. Private equity firm Direct Capital will cut its stake to 20 percent from its current holding of 84.2 percent. The price values Scales at $224 million.

About half of the offer was allocated to institutions in New Zealand, Australia and Asia with the remainder going to certain NZX Firms on behalf of their retail investor clients, Scales said.

(BusinessDesk)

© Scoop Media