There’s no arguing that APM’s overpriced float dudded incoming investors.
Everyone associated with the $972 million raising in November 2021 — from the backers led by private equity group Madison Dearborn to the big-name investment banks who put it to investors — filled their boots.
But they left nothing on the table for the incoming shareholders who paid $3.55 a share to buy into the IPO.
Its promoters can try to justify the float valuation as long as they like by banging on about the comparative multiples they relied on, but they can’t avoid one glaring fact — the stock has never traded at its issue price.
Madison Dearborn, which banked $515m in a float sell-down of its stake at $3.55 a share, is now offering less than half of that to take APM private again.
The Perth-based company has had a forgettable three years as a publicly listed company and will leave the trading boards with its credibility in tatters.
Chair and founder Megan Wynne built a trusted business that partnered with governments to help unemployed people find jobs.
However, it has struggled with life on the ASX.
Exacerbating the lingering investor concerns about its reliance on government contracts were the unexpectedly strong post-pandemic job markets that undermined its business model. The result has been a series of profit downgrades since late-2023 that have burnt investor trust, embarrassed management and directors and savaged its share price.
APM will likely be remembered as a private equity-backed float gone bad. But Madison Dearborn is eyeing the chance to profit again by pushing it back out in a few years time.