The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has taken a substantial shareholding in ERoad, two months after the logistics and fleet management company floated on the NZX.
Australia’s largest bank holds a 5.19 per cent stake, or 3.1 million shares worth $NZ9.54 million ($A8.88 million), in the Auckland-based company according to a substantial holding notice lodged with the NZX.
The stake is split across CBA subsidiaries, with Colonial First State Asset Management holding 4.4 per cent and ASB Bank 0.8 per cent.
According to the notice, the subsidiaries bought 2.6m shares for $NZ3.5m during the July bookbuild and have since boosted their stake to above the five per cent substantial shareholder threshold.
In mid-August, ERoad listed on the NZX, raising $NZ40m in new capital to fund international growth.
It sold 15.3m shares at $NZ3 apiece, with existing owners keeping a 75 per cent stake in the company.
The shares rose 1.4 per cent to $NZ3.65 in afternoon trading on Wednesday, and have gained 22 per cent since listing.
Founded in 2009, ERoad says it was the first company to provide a nationwide GPS-based road user charge system.
It first turned a profit – $NZ2.9m – in the year ended March 31, 2014, on $NZ10m in sales.
In its July prospectus it forecast revenue to rise to $NZ19m in 2015, and to $NZ34m in 2016. But it expected to post a loss of $NZ1m in 2015 due to $NZ2m in listing costs, before returning to profit of $NZ5.5m in 2016.
The company doesn’t expect to pay dividends in the near term.
Of the new capital raised, $NZ3m went to repay bank debt, with the remaining cash used to fund ERoad’s growth, particularly in the US, where it launched commercial services in Oregon in April.
