Macquarie, Armitage-backed Nuix to list in Australia

The company is looking to raise up to A$953 million ($694 million) through the sale of 179.5 million shares for A$5.31 apiece, according to a filing. This translates into a market capitalization of A$1.75 billion and forward earnings multiple of 27.5x.

Macquarie, which first invested in Nuix in 2011, will reduce its holding from 76.2% to 30.1%, taking approximately A$566 million off the table. Armitage will realize proceeds of A$47.6 million, with its stake falling from 6.8% to 2.8%. Armitage is a growth investor supported by Trawalla Group, the family office of the Schwartz family. It operates on a deal-by-deal basis, with Trawalla participating in every investment and other groups contributing capital as required.

Nuix was conceptualized in the early 2000s with the development of an algorithm for making unstructured data searchable. It was commercialized for a specific use case with an Australian government agency and now boasts more than 1,000 customers across 78 countries.  

The company’s core product, the Nuix Engine, facilitates the processing, indexing and analysis of data from a multitude of different sources, including presentations, text files, emails, chat messages, browser histories, and network traffic logs. It has been used in investigations related to the Panama Papers, Australia’s Royal Commission into financial services sector misconduct, organized crime rings, corporate scandals, and terrorist activities.

Business growth is expected to be driven by the proliferation of unstructured data, rising data volumes – IDC estimates they will reach 143 zettabytes by 2024 – an increasing focus on governance, risks and compliance, and more action to prevent data breaches.

Nuix entered the North American market in 2007 and that geography still accounts for more than half of its revenue. Advisory firms, corporates, government agencies, and law firms make up most of the user base, among them Amazon, Thomson Reuters, the Australian Securities & Investment Commission, the US Securities & Exchange Commission, and the big four accounting firms.

Revenue came to A$175.9 million for the 12 months ended June, up from A$139.6 million a year earlier. Over the same period, EBTIDA rose from A$29.1 million to A$55.5 million and net profit increased from A$3.4 million to A$18.8 million.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Technology
• IPO
• Australia
• enterprise software
• Macquarie Group
• Armitage Associates