Leading online car classifieds site Carsales.com.au has made an impressive debut on the Australian Securities Exchange this morning, with its shares rising from an issue price of $3.50 to $3.95 in early trade.
The company, which is 50% owned by PBL Media, is the dominant player in the online car classifieds sector with a market share of almost 60%.
It raised $163.6 million through the initial public offering, valuing the company at $812 million on listing.
The float was designed to allow the company’s owners – mostly car dealers – a chance to get a return on their investment. But the majority of Carsales’ shareholders decided to hang onto their shares, with 46.1 million shares being offered out of a possible 72 million.
Chairman Wal Pisciotta will be one of the biggest sellers, with his stake halving from 16% to 8.1%. He’ll collect $64.4 million for selling 18.4 million shares and retain a stake worth about $72 million.
Chief executive Greg Roebuck will collect $12.6 million from the sale of 3.6 million shares, with his stake dropping from 4.7% to 3.2%.
The next challenge for the company will be to meet the bullish forecasts contained in its prospectus.
Carsales predicts revenue will increased 19.6% in 2009-10 to $115.2 million, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and ammortisation tipped to jump 29.5% to $56.6 million.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
