Cuscal gets cracking on revived IPO plans

Payments company Cuscal is formally ramping up its IPO plans.

The payments company Cuscal is understood to be gearing up for a formal management roadshow next week as part of its revived efforts for an initial public offering.

It comes after it held meetings with investors in recent months.

Cuscal planned to list last year on the Australian Securities Exchange but pulled the pin in November during challenging market conditions.

Now the expectation is that a price cut will likely be needed to get a deal away with floats thin on the ground for 2024.

The only one of any major scale has been Guzman y Gomez.

Yet that could be about to change with some vendors once again turning their attention to a listing with more buoyant market conditions on the ASX.

In particular, it’s resources companies that are looking to list, according to sources.

With respect to Cuscal, it is owned by shareholders, including Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, MasterCard and other mutual banks, and they had hired Bank of America, Ord Minnett and Bell Potter for the initial public offering last year.

Its initial plan was to raise $367m giving it a $514m market value, yet many in the market expected it may have been more well received with a smaller raise and a lower price.

Shares were then offered at $2.50 each, with a primary issue of $75m and a selldown of $292m.

The price equated to 9.4 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the 2024 financial year.

Cuscal is a payments infrastructure services provider in Australia, offering business-to-business services for institutional clients, such as corporates, banks, credit unions, financial technology groups, mutual savings banks and superannuation funds.

These include credit cards, mobile banking and payments apps, BPAY, ATM services, data management and fraud services.

Previously known as the Credit Union Services Corporation, Cuscal is regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority as an Australian authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI), and by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Fortescue Metals Exit

Meanwhile, The Capital Group was understood to be selling its stake of less than 5 per cent in the $50bn iron ore miner Fortescue Metals directly into the market on Thursday after its 45-day escrow arrangement preventing it from selling any more shares ended following its last selldown.

Capital divested a $1.9bn interest or about 3.2 per cent in late July in the Andrew Forrest-backed Fortescue through JPMorgan after earlier selling a $1.1bn interest in June.

As a result, its holding fell below 5 per cent and it was no longer a substantial holder.

It comes as a number of groups look to cash in their holdings on the back of the recent sharemarket rally, with others being Crescent Capital selling out of Australian Clinical Labs, Apollo reducing its stake in Challenger and Woolworths selling shares in Endeavour Group.