Sir Gil scouts for investor to help Jade's float

By DANIEL RIORDAN

Software mogul Sir Gil Simpson is planning to float part of his company and list it on the stock exchange.

Sir Gil, who owns more than 90 per cent of Aoraki Corporation and its newly created subsidiary Jade Capital, has asked Pricewaterhouse-Coopers to find Jade a cornerstone investor and try taking the company to the market.

PWC is scouting for that investor, which will take between 10 and 30 per cent of the company. Sir Gil would not be drawn on Jade's value, but hinted at a figure of around $100 million.

"We are looking at all the capital-raising options available to us. We are looking at a cornerstone investor, all the way through to an initial public offering."

Sir Gil said Christchurch-based Aoraki had developed leading-edge applications which had been bundled into Jade Capital. To develop those further required more capital, and Aoraki also wanted to incubate other products which, when market ready, would be passed over to Jade.

The cornerstone investor would ideally bring "knowledge or access to a certain market space" as well as capital.

Sir Gil was hopeful that investors could be found within New Zealand.

"But it's a conservative market here and we would have to acknowledge that."

He said a decision on what Jade would do should be made by late August to early September. "We hope to have it all tickety-boo by then."

Valuations had been done on Jade, but Sir Gil said it was up to the market to decide what the company was worth.

Jade Capital, named for Aoraki's Jade programming software (which helps businesses run their operations), was set up last week to encompass five of Aoraki's operating divisions, focused on building software for specific market sectors.

They are transport, healthcare, tertiary student management, customer relationship management and payroll/human resource management.

Aoraki continues as a separate company, feeding developments through to Jade.

Sir Gil, who co-founded Aoraki more than 20 years ago, said PWC was canvassing all options for Jade, but he clearly has his sights set on the sharemarket.

"I'm thrilled we've got to this point. We've been a bit of a mystery company - like most non-listed firms. But we're more than ready for the next stage, which is the commercial discipline that comes with outside investment.

"It's a way of measuring my performance. At the end of the day, the market will be harsh on me if I'm not performing well, and if I'm doing it well, I hope it will be kind to me.

"But I think it's time I had that measure of accountability," said Sir Gil.

Certainly, Sir Gil's empire could do with extra capital.

Parent Aoraki, which employs about 400 staff and had turnover of about $60 million during each of the past four years, has hovered just above break-even over that time.

Former Finance Minister Ruth Richardson was last week named Aoraki's new chairwoman. Sir Gil is one of three executive directors.

He is chairman of Jade.