MELBOURNE, Australia--Monash IVF Group is set to list in
Australia late this month as owner Ironbridge joins a flurry of
initial public offerings by private-equity companies encouraged by
the strong local equities market.
It will be the second IPO of an in-vitro fertilization company
in a year after Quadrant Private Equity last June sold its stake in
Virtus Health Ltd., the country's largest provider of assisted
reproductive services. Virtus's shares rose on the first day of
trading and have climbed about 50% above the offer price.
The IPO of Monash is set to raise 315.9 million Australian
dollars ($293 million), with shares priced at A$1.85 each,
according to a prospectus for the listing published Thursday. That
puts the price within an indicative range earlier set at A$1.65 to
A$1.95.
Private-equity companies have been taking advantage of an
Australian stock market that continues to trade near a six-year
high. Pacific Equity Partners and Svenska Cellulosa AB last week
said they planned to raise as much as A$690 million through the IPO
of toilet paper-and-diapers-maker Asaleo Care. Pacific Equity
raised A$994.6 million last month from the sale of a 51% stake in
cleaning-and-catering company Spotless Group Holdings Ltd.
Almost A$3.9 billion was raised on the ASX in May, the
second-largest month for IPOs in 3.5 years, according to analysts
at UBS.
Ironbridge bought Monash in 2009 for an undisclosed sum,
bolstering a specialist health-care business begun the year before
with the purchase of in-vitro fertilization practice Repromed. The
business expanded into Asia in 2012 through the acquisition of KL
Fertility in Malaysia, according to the private-equity firm's
website.
Monash achieved the world's first human IVF pregnancy in 1973,
the world's first frozen embryo pregnancy in 1983, Australia's
first IVF surrogate pregnancy in 1988 and the country's first birth
from frozen ovarian tissue that was reimplanted in 2013, the
prospectus said.
"We will seek growth for Monash IVF Group by expanding our
market share in Australia, by continuing to invest in best-in-class
science, by expanding our clinic network in Australia and by
further expanding our Asian business," said James Thiedeman, chief
executive of the company.
Based on the offer price, Monash will have a market
capitalization of A$427.5 million compared with Virtus's market
value of almost A$694 million. Monash doctors will own an about 18%
stake in the company, management will have another 2.5% and funds
advised by Ironbridge will retain 5%. Initial trading in Monash is
set to begin June 25.
Fort Street Advisers is financial adviser to Monash on the IPO,
and Macquarie Capital and Morgan Stanley Australia are joint lead
managers.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com
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