Retail magnate Brett Blundy last night pulled his $700 million Aventus float.
The news followed the launch yesterday of a $316.1m bookbuild priced at $2 a share, which drew wide support from some large institutional fund managers. Macquarie was handling the raising.
Despite the interest from some fund managers it’s understood the retail investors steered clear of the float because of concerns over the vehicle’s fee structure.
The group, which is attempting to float a portfolio of 14 bulky goods centres along the eastern seaboard, sought to raise $316.1m on Wednesday with shares priced at $2.
“In light of the market volatility management, advisers are reviewing the offer structure to determine if a more truncated commitment period and offer structure can be achieved,” an Aventus spokesman said.
The raising sought to deploy $130.9m to help acquire 14 retail centres from a private portfolio amassed by Mr Blundy’s funds, while another $117.3m of the $316m of equity would be used to repay debt.
Some fund managers suggested the raising may have been a tough sell, meaning a greater call on retail investors to be brought in by Morgans.
Meanwhile, and as reported by The Australian’s BusinessNow blog last night, Link Group’s advisers have started booking in investor education meetings, which will start mid next week, for what is expected to be the largest initial public offering for the second half of the year.
Citi, UBS, Macquarie and Deutsche are joint lead managers for the initial public offering, expected to value the company at more than $2bn.
Veda, MYOB and Iress, along with SS&C Technologies, are being treated as comparables for Link, which is owned by Pacific Equity Partners. Analysts started preparing reports on the company in recent days and it will be interesting to see the valuation range that they place on the business.
Link has aspirations to raise between $700m and $1 billion.
Finally, the West Australian float prospect, Wellard Group, is not expected to launch a formal roadshow for the business for at least eight weeks, as advisers UBS continue to prepare the privately held business for a listing.
Wellard is one of Australia’s largest exporters of sheep and cattle into Asia and the Middle East, accounting for about 30 per cent of the country’s live export market.
It also owns and operates a livestock fleet through its Singapore subsidiary, Wellard Ships.
The prospective deal, which will see the company raise about $300m, is being promoted as one that offers strong earnings growth potential on the back of increasing Asian demand for the country’s meat products, which carry high health standards.
This article first appeared in The Australian Business Review.