Tyro prospectus set to launch ahead of planned IPO

Tyro Payments CEO Robbie Cooke.

Tyro Payments is expected to release the prospectus for its initial public offering by Monday, with a front-end bookbuild structure likely for the float.

Some expect the price for the deal is likely to be fixed. It is understood that advisers on the transaction are planning to price Tyro as a company worth between $1.2bn and $1.5bn for the IPO with shares sold at about $2.50 each.

Morgan Stanley had earlier placed a valuation range of between $1.5bn and $2.1bn on the business. At the top of that price range, fund managers have said they would sidestep the deal, saying it would make the payments business too expensive.

Tyro, which counts Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes among its investors and is run by former Tatts boss Robbie Cooke, generates about $100m of gross profit annually.

It is expected to list by Christmas at the earliest and is likely to raise up to $250m.

Working on the IPO is Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan.

The company’s revenue for fiscal 2019 was $190m and is growing at 20 per cent a year.

Tyro, founded in 2003 by Peter Haig, Andrew Rothwell and Paul Wood,was the first new entrant into the Australian eftpos business since 1996 and its IPO will be closely watched as other planned listings did not achieve investor support.

Tyro raised $100m in 2016, selling shares at $1.04 each to some of its 450-plus shareholders, with Tiger Global, TDM and Mr Cannon-Brookes participating in what was a pre- PO raise.

Analysts are comparing the company to similar businesses including Square, Stone, Shopify and Adyen, which all trade at between 8 and 25 times sales.

Meanwhile, Limeade could be the latest company with plans for an initial public offering, as revealed online on Thursday by DataRoom. The company offers software that looks at the workplace experience of company employees and ways to improve workplace wellbeing.

Investment bank Macquarie Capital is thought to be working for the owners of the business.

Limeade was founded in 2006 by Henry Albrecht and is still run by him. Some expect it to be worth between $300m and $400m.

Prior to Limeade, Mr Albrecht was vice president of product management at the enterprise software and product marketing company Bocada, where he launched a number of new business initiatives.