Storm IPO strikes out

The $160 million IPO of financial planning group Storm Financial has been pulled after a poor response from the investment community.

The Townsville-based Storm, and its advisors PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities and legal firm Mallesons, had scheduled an institutional book build on Thursday within an indicative price range of 92c to $1.08 a share.

The book build was conducted by Austock Brokers after the last minute withdrawal of Macquarie Group, which wasn't happy with the structure of the offer.

But it seems the jittery markets, particularly in relation to investment management stocks, led to a lack of demand from institutions and put paid to their plans. The book build did not reach the minimum offer price.

This is despite the retail component, mostly for its own high-net worth individuals, being oversubscribed.

The founding Cassimatis family – Emmanuel and Julie are joint CEOs of the firm – had hoped to sell $28.5 million of their own shares, but would still retain a 53.9 per cent stake. The company would have been valued at up to $497 million by the float.

There is was no underwriting or management fees on the IPO. PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities was due to get $2.1 million for acting as a financial advisor and investigating accountant, while Mallesons was due to get $1.15 million for the legal work.