PEP's Veda IPO set to raise $341m

Veda Group Ltd, the credit bureau company owned by Pacific Equity Partners, will raise up to $341.1 million in an initial public offering to reduce debt and invest in its business.

Veda will sell 272.8 million shares, close to a third of the company’s total shares, at $1.25 per share, according to the company’s prospectus.

The IPO, priced at 16.5 times the company’s forecast 2014 earnings per share, is fully underwritten by Citigroup Inc and UBS AG, who will be paid $9.4 million as joint lead managers of the share sale.

Buyout firm Pacific Equity Partners will retain a 63.5 per cent shareholding in Veda after the IPO. As of June 30 this year, Veda had net debt of $287.2 million.

Veda classifies itself as a data analytics company that has credit information on 20 million individuals in Australia and New Zealand and about five million businesses.

The company’s businesses include consumer risk and identity, commercial risk and information services. It also offers individuals their personal credit information to ensure fraud prevention and to prevent identity theft.

Thirty per cent of Veda’s customers are Australia’s major banks. Regional and other domestic financial companies make up 14 per cent of customers while international financial firms and others make up the rest of Veda’s customer base.

Veda forecasts its 2014 net profit will be $17.3 million on revenue of $290 million.