Class Limited (Class) has lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) a Prospectus for an Initial Public Offering (IPO or Offer) of ordinary shares and listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The expected ASX code is CL1.
The Prospectus relates to an offer of up to 29,860,876 fully paid ordinary shares in Class, based on a price of $1.00 per share and equating to an indicative market capitalisation of approximately $116.35 to $121.35 million.
Established in 2005, Class is the developer of Class Super, the leading cloud-based software for administration of Self Managed Super Funds (SMSFs). The company also recently launched Class Portfolio, an investment portfolio administration solution for non-SMSF portfolios.
Class Super was introduced in 2009 and at the end of September 2015 was used by more than 800 customers to administer over 90,000 SMSFs, or 16% of the SMSF market by fund numbers. Class holds 67% market share of the cloud SMSF administration software segment*.
Class’ success has been driven by SMSF administrators moving from desktop and non-specialised software to its efficient cloud-based solution that integrates real-time data feeds and facilitates collaboration between SMSF trustees and their financial advisers.
The Offer includes:
• A Contribution to Class (CTC) Offer, which is open to Eligible Customers of Class who will receive a priority invitation from Class to participate; and
• A General Offer, which is open generally to investors in Australia.
The Offer is being conducted to provide liquidity to its current Shareholders; allow its customers to become direct stakeholders in Class (through the CTC Offer); assist in attracting and retaining employees; boost the financial strength of Class and support its business strategies; and provide Class with better access to a deeper pool of equity capital that may be required for future expansion.
Barry Lambert, Chairman of Class, said Class is well positioned to execute on its growth strategy and continue to build its market leadership in cloud administration solutions for both SMSFs and non-SMSF portfolios.
“We’re especially pleased to invite our customers to participate in the CTC Offer, to reward them for their continued commitment and contribution to Class over the years. Class’ customer retention rate was more than 99% in the year to 30 June 2015 – a strong indicator of high levels of customer satisfaction.
Kevin Bungard, CEO of Class, said the IPO was a significant milestone for the business.
“Six years ago, Class became a market disrupter when we launched Class Super, the first cloud solution for administration of SMSFs. Since then, our continued investment in R&D, strong focus on innovation, growing partner ecosystem and high customer satisfaction levels has brought us to a point where we are the clear leader in the cloud SMSF administration software market and winning significant business and industry awards. We look forward to building on that success, and increasing our awareness and sales of ClassPortfolio, our new administration solution for non-SMSF portfolios.”
* Investment Trends 2015 SMSF Accountant Report, based on a survey of 1,647 accountants in public practice.