ASX book build creator says his phone is running hot

Ben Bucknell sounds positively giddy. The creator of the ASX on-market book build says he is celebrating “a couple of huge days” when WAM Capital raised $24.7 million using his company’s intellectual property. 

Bucknell's company has been deluged by queries about the product, with very strong interest from private equity firms, companies, brokers and lead managers, he says.

“We’ve taken the book-build format from the theoretical to the tested and proven,” Bucknell told DataRoom. He  declined to put a number on the parties showing interest.

“It was a great success for us,” says WAM Capital chairman Geoff Wilson of Bucknell's book build, urging equity capital market bankers to “embrace” the new product. “It’s an efficient way to raise capital."

That received a snort of derision from equity capital markets bankers. Perhaps they feel threatened.

Bucknell charges $25,000 for a share sale. Investment banks charge much more, typically a percentage of funds raised.

Bankers say that’s because they assume the risk of placing a company’s stock with investors while ensuring the best price for the company, pointing to numerous instances when they sold stock at minuscule discount or even at a premium.

There is no love lost between the new entrant and the incumbents protecting their turf.