Here’s another bit of good news for the IPO market. Global software-as-a-service business Ansarada is a step closer to a $300 million ASX listing.

Street Talk can reveal stockbrokers Moelis Australia and Shaw and Partners have snared joint lead manager mandates for the IPO of the $50 million-a-year revenue Ansarada.

It comes after a beauty parade in recent weeks overseen by Deloitte Corporate Finance.

It is understood the company would be eyeing a listing on a 4 to 6 times revenue multiple. And when Ansarada first issued a request for a proposal to equity capital markets bankers in November, it told them that it makes about $50 million revenue a year.

On that basis, if Ansarada’s listing was successful, it would hit the boards with a valuation of up to $300 million.

Ansarada is the global software-as-a-service business that provides virtual data rooms, allowing companies engaged in mergers and acquisitions to control the disclosure of a definitive set of data in a confidential environment.

It counts BP, PwC, KPMG, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and ING as clients. While numbers are hard to come by at this early stage, it's believed Ansarada has seen 20 per cent annual net new customer growth for the entire company.

But there's more

While the bulk of Ansarada’s run rate comes from its transactions business, the platform is being adopted for other uses.

The pitch to fund managers is likely to note that private equity has started using Ansarada’s platform for portfolio management, ensuring they reach material outcomes in the right way. Customers include Sydney turnaround specialist Allegro Funds and pan-Asian firm Navis Capital.

The platform also has applications in governance risk and compliance, as well as post-M&A integration, submission and evaluation of tenders and as a board portal.

The JLM appointments come about 18 months after Ansarada raised $24 million in a funding round backed by Ellerston Capital, Tempus Partners, Belay Capital and Australian Ethical Investments.

The Sydney-based company was founded in 2005 by Andrew Slavin, Sam Riley, Rachel Riley and Daphne Chang.

It also comes amid a period of more positive sentiment in the IPO market, after a dire few months.

Fintech company Tyro Payments’ share price rose 20 per cent last week in the biggest public float of 2019, while personal lender MoneyMe and infant milk formula biz Nuchev also popped on debut.

Article source: AFR, 13 December 2019