Former Brisbane Broncos chairman Darryl Somerville has been chosen to head the board for the upcoming float of David Devine’s Metro Property Developments, with the company set to list on the Australian Securities Exchange as a business worth about $600 million around June.
Sources told Dataroom yesterday that Mr Somerville would chair Metro when it floated.
Management and advisers will embark on a non-deal roadshow next month before lodging the prospectus for the deal in May, sources said.
Adviser Moelis has been working on plans for an initial public offering of the business for several months amid improving residential property market conditions.
Earlier this year, The Australian reported that Metro was on track to generate $500 million in sales this year and has $2.5bn worth of projects under way in Brisbane alone.
Mr Devine stepped down as managing director of the listed company he founded, Devine, in 2009.
Mr Devine started Metro in 2010.
It has invested heavily in Brisbane’s inner city, with 1599 apartments across seven projects. The group also has housing and master-planned community projects under way or planned in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, and is entering Sydney with ambitions to add to its 46 projects Australia-wide.
Mr Somerville has previously chaired the existing listed Brisbane-based property developer Devine, which was founded and previously run by David Devine.
Mr Somerville also chaired the Brisbane Broncos football team, a position from which he retired from in 2011.
The former PricewaterhouseCoopers partner is a director of vocational training outfit Site Group International and he also previously chaired the Queensland government’s energy competition committee.
This article first appeared in The Australian Business Review.