After years of rumours and a pandemic delay, Australian Venue Co has finally kicked off its run at the ASX.
Australian Venue Co (AVC) has 175 venues across Australia and New Zealand, having aggressively accumulated leasehold sites since 2014.
Majority-owned by US private equity giant KKR, AVC is the second-largest hotel operator in the country, behind only the Woolworths-backed ALH group.
Investment banks Goldman Sachs and Citi sent detailed pre-deal reports to fund managers this week.
The pubs business has projected revenue for FY21 of $624 million, coming predominantly from food & beverage (64 per cent) and gaming (23 per cent), with EBITDA tipped at $190 million and net profit after tax of $50.5 million.
Revenue is anticipated to increase for FY22, for EBITDA of $207 million and NPAT of $60.2 million.
Prospectus literature reports AVC has done well updating sites, increasing yields through strategic CAPEX and typically adding 20 per cent to earnings in the first year after acquisition.
Goldman Sachs analysts appraised the business as valued between $975 million and $1.315 billion, in accordance with the FY22 forecasts.
The analysts suggest AVC’s future will be bolstered by an outlook of solid organic growth for the pub industry, seeing annual gains in the region of three per cent.
The pre-IPO roadshow will bring stockpickers on tours to key AVC venues, to be hosted by group CEO Paul Waterson, CFO David Noonan, COO Craig Ellison and chief marketing officer Kylie Moncur.
