Chrysos Corporation has hit the road this week to convince institutional investors to commit to its initial public offering, which is expected to be around $200m.
This is after initial meetings were held earlier in the year.
It is understood that it will lock in terms for a deal in the coming days in a front end-style book build, which has been the common trend for Australian IPOs over the past few years now.
A prospectus will be lodged in a few weeks ahead of a listing around the end of April or in early May.
There’s been little argument about Chrysos being a quality business, but the big question until now has been how investors will feel about the price, especially since a number of floats from last year still remain underwater and markets overall are uncertain right now amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
The talk has been that Chrysos has been looking at a price of between $600m and $800m, which some think at the top end is too much, and perhaps this is why the group is looking to raise only a limited amount of capital for the time being.
It wants to sell down about $100m and raise about $100m of additional funds.
Yet DataRoom understands that demand is already strong should the company list with a value around $600m, so the question is whether it can achieve a price higher than that.
Chrysos counts CSIRO as its largest investor and provides analysis for the gold mining sector through its PhotonAssay technology, so weighing in its favour will be the current environment of strong commodity prices.
Working on the float is Barrenjoey Capital Partners.
Shareholders include Regal Funds Management, Wilson Asset Management and Tribeca Investment Partners.
The company was founded by the CSIRO and is the global leader in the technology it offers.
Also a shareholder is the listed mining services provider Perenti, which bought into the business some time ago for only tens of millions of dollars.
It is expected that Perenti would be a seller and would use the funds elsewhere.
Any company looking to pull together a deal right now would likely be keen to head to the boards in May.
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