Wynyard seeks up to $70M in NZX listing to buy Jade IP, fund growth

Wynyard Group, the security software maker spun off from Jade Software, wants to raise up to $70 million in a listing on the stock exchange next month to take control of its intellectual property and fund its growth aspirations.

The Auckland-based company plans to raise between $60 million and $65 million in a public offer with over-subscriptions of up to $5 million at an indicative price of between $1.10 and $1.65, according to its prospectus filed with the Companies Office today.

Jade Software will also sell some $3 million of shares once the offer is completed. The float gives Wynyard an implied market capitalisation of between $115.7 million and $141 million.

The funds will go towards the $23.6 million price tag on the intellectual property rights of Wynyard's intelligence products, which are owned by Jade.

Some $10 million will repay intercompany debts and a $2 million loan Jade wrote to fund Wynyard's investment. Another $3.6 million is expected to cover the listing costs, leaving $25.8 million to fund its growth.

"Additional equity is required to rapidly expand Wynyard's customer base and the value it brings to existing customers, as well as to purchase the assets it needs to become an independently listed entity," chairman Murray Horn says in the offer document.

"The investment will be particularly attractive to investors who are looking for capital growth and are happy to forgo dividend yield in the meantime."

The listing comes at a heady time for New Zealand tech stocks, with several listings in prospect and software company Xero, which has yet to trade profitably, this week becoming the largest company listed on the NZX by market capitalisation.

Wynyard expects to list on the stock exchange on or around July 19, and will hold a bookbuild to set the final offer price on June 18. UBS and Forsyth Barr have been appointed joint lead managers.

The company expects to post a net loss of $10.1 million this calendar year on sales of $21.5 million and a loss of $10.4 million on sales of $27 million in 2014.

Wynyard software is in use by the London Metropolitan Police and the New Zealand and Australian police forces, global banks and corporations, and is making inroads into the huge US market, where its products have impressed the Department of Homeland Security.

The company has a strategic relationship with US defence contractor Northrop Grumman and has been signalling since last year it was planning a great leap forward strategy into the US in 2013 and 2014.

(BusinessDesk)