ASX listings boss Darren Yip owes Perth software company Qoria’s whole board a drink.
Not content with life as a bombed-out tech play in ASX small caps-land, the board has got shareholders a bid from a materially bigger US player backed by a couple of handy venture capital funds.
But instead of flying the coop like Altium, Nearmap or Infomedia, cyber safety software group Qoria has negotiated a deal with its US suitor that will keep it on the ASX boards via what is effectively a reverse takeover.
The new and larger Qoria is notionally a $3 billion software company with about $450 million annual recurring revenue and 1.6 million subscribers, expecting to grow 20 per cent this year. If it gets approvals, it could be listed as early as June.
At $3 billion – a bit of a rubbery number that warrants investigation in coming months – the new Qoria would be worth more than S&P/ASX200 staples Perpetual, Tabcorp, Viva Energy and our publisher Nine Entertainment Group.
So for once, what looked like another offshore raid and another story about the shrinking ASX could spark the next ASX200 company. There’s no IPO roadshow, bookbuild or anything else required – just ASX waivers and a Qoria shareholder vote. It’s a bit like Sigma Healthcare’s acquisition of Chemist Warehouse which created what’s now one of the ASX’s most valuable retailers.
It seems almost too easy for the ASX; attracting a fast-growing US tech company with more than $US200 million ($285 million) in recurring revenue and 1.2 million subscribers across its direct-to-consumer and corporate channels.
It is not just another minerals explorer or REIT (not that there is anything wrong with them) – it makes most of its money offshore and competes in what Qoria said was a $US120 billion security and safety market. And it should happen without too much fuss.
To work, Qoria’s going to have to overcome some early scepticism. Its shares were trading well below the notional bid price on Tuesday.
It tried to explain Aura and the merger opportunity to shareholders on Tuesday morning’s call and via a 61-page presentation, but its suitor Aura has a few parts, and it was hard to determine exactly how the business makes money. Qoria boss Tim Levy promised a proper roadshow and investor introductions prior to the scheme vote, in a bid to shore-up confidence.
In the meantime, and as a show of goodwill, Aura’s shareholders have committed $US75 million in new money to the to-be-listed company at a price equivalent to 72¢ a Qoria share (more than two-times its last traded price of 34¢). That new money at $3 billion helps, but Levy still has considerable work to do.
Qoria’s Australian investors knew of Aura as one of Life360’s strategic partners and investments, but that was about it. Aura is an unlisted software company mostly owned by management and venture investors including WndrCo and Accel, which means it will take time to sell the story.
Street Talk revealed the talks on Sunday. Merger documents lodged reveal confidential talks started in August last year, just prior to Qoria’s FY25 results.
Source: https://www.afr.com/chanticleer/a-tech-exit-in-reverse-the-3b-deal-to-save-asx-from-itself-20260203-p5nz42