Quadrant nears IPOs for Burson Auto, iSentia - report

According to The Wall Street Journal, Burson has a final road show scheduled for March, with a view to listing in early-to-mid April and raising A$300 million ($268 million). Meanwhile, Media monitoring business iSentia has cleared the final regulatory hurdle in between it and a A$500 million offering.

Burson is a distributor of aftermarket automotive parts and accessories to the trade and retail repair and service market. Quadrant acquired Burson in October 2011 in a A$148 million deal. It was the first investment made from the A$750 million Quadrant Private Equity Fund No. 3.

Burson's main competitor is Exego Group, owner of the Repco branded chain of stores, which was previously owned by Unitas Capital. Unitas acquired the company in 2006 for an enterprise valuation of around A$570 million and then completed its exit last year to Genuine Parts, which paid $950 million including debt.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said yesterday that it wouldn't oppose iSentia's acquisition of Australian Associated Press's media monitoring business, despite voicing concerns last year that the deal would stifle competition. ISentia can now begin integrating the asset into its existing operations ahead of a listing, said to be planned for April.

Quadrant bought iSentia in 2010 for around $160 million and subsequently completed the bolt-on acquistion of Southeast Asian media monitoring business MediaBanc.

Quadrant has had a good track record for IPOs in recent years. Shares in fertility services provider Virtus Health have jumped 34% since its debut in June. In addition, retirement village operator Summerset Group Holdings has more than doubled since Quadrant listed it on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in 2011, while apparel retailer Kathmandu Holdings is currently 71% above its 2009 listing price.

In Australia, 2013 was a bumper year for private equity-backed IPOs.

In addition to Virtus, online foreign exchange and payments provider Oz Forex - backed by The Carlyle Group, Accel Partners and Macquarie Group - also had a strong debut, gaining 29.5% on its issue price on the first day of trading. Meanwhile, analytics firm Veda Group - a Pacific Equity Partners portfolio company - has jumped more than 42% following a December offering.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Exits
• Industrials
• Australia
• Exit
• IPO
• Quadrant Private Equity
• manufacturing