Australian fast-food group Collins Foods, owned by buyout firm Pacific Equity Partners, has priced its initial public offering at the bottom of the planned range, raising A$201.7 million, but still making it the largest IPO in the local market this year.
Collins Foods said in a statement it would offer 80.7 million shares at a price of A$2.50 per share, the bottom of the range between A$2.50 to A$2.92, confirming figures reported earlier from sources. The price implies a multiple of nine times earnings and the bookbuild met with solid support from local and Asian institutional investors, Collins said.
The prospectus was lodged on Friday. "Collins Foods has a strong financial track record and is well positioned for future growth via new restaurant roll-outs and refurbishments, expansion of the product range and day parts as well as ongoing operating initiatives," Managing Director Kevin Perkins said in a statement.
Collins Foods is the country's largest KFC franchisee and owns all 119 KFC outlets in the state of Queensland, as well as 85 Sizzler restaurants around Australia and Asia, according to its web site.
There has been a drought in Australian share offerings due to soft equity markets, with two floats pulled last month and no IPOs worth more than A$100 million reaching the market. Deutsche Bank and UBS are joint lead managers to the offer.