Briscoe the latest dual-lister

Big shift to foreign exempt listings in Oz

Briscoe Group has become the latest New Zealand company to dual list in Australia as a foreign exempt entity. Law firm Chapman Tripp noted the growing trend in its annual capital markets report released earlier this year.

In 2015 27 NZX-listed companies had a full ASX listing with nine having an ASX foreign exempt listing.

But in 2016 there was a big shift with only seven having full ASX listings and 34 having a foreign exempt listing.

The report noted that as of December 2016, 50 per cent of the NZX 50 were now listed on the ASX including nine out of the NZX 10 companies.

This type of listing means companies are exempt from complying with the majority of ASX rules but must release the same information to the ASX which they release to the NZX at the same time.

It’s basically all of the upside of being on the ASX without the added compliance.

Briscoe officially began trading on the ASX yesterday.

Rod Duke, Briscoe’s managing director and its biggest shareholder, is hoping the move will boost shareholder interest in the company.

“We believe that the greater visibility from a dual-listing will contribute to increased investor interest and a broader shareholder base which will increase our ability to take advantage of fresh opportunities that we identify.”

Briscoe’s NZX-listed shares closed yesterday at $4.10.

Oz-bound

New Zealand agri-tech company Crop Logic plans to list on the ASX — the latest Kiwi company to choose the Australian exchange over New Zea- land’s local bourse. Jamie Cairns, chief executive of Crop Logic, said it would love to have supported the NZX but it didn’t make sense.

The company is looking to raise up to $8 million through its initial public offer and is in the middle of a two-week transtasman roadshow.

Cairns said it couldn’t list on the main board of the NZX because it doesn’t meet the $50m minimum and it was put off listing on NXT because only four other companies were listed on it.

“We would love to be supporting it. But with four companies [on the NXT] it just doesn’t make sense.”

He said the ASX only had one board which meant listing over there put it next to the likes of BHP.

He said many American tech companies were also choosing to list on the ASX and then expand back into the United States.

“The Aussies have set it up well and made it quite attractive.”

Despite the move to list across the ditch Cairns is hoping New Zealand investors will be supportive of its capital raising.

Cairns said it was “really hard to judge” how much of the money would come from New Zealand investors and how much from Australia.

“I’d love to say we will be wellsupported by New Zealand investors.”

Its pre-IPO capital raising in Australia was well-supported. The company raised $2m from that and had over-subscriptions of $300,000 which meant the offer had to be scaled.

Some might question whether it was worth listing for such a small capital raising given the costs involved. But Cairns said the move was part of its overall growth strategy. The attraction of being listed was that it meant the company would have a mark to market valuation and be able to pay in shares for acquisitions rather than cash.

He said it also meant Crop Logic would have more gravitas when it came to making acquisitions if it could offer the business it acquired shares in an ASX-listed company.

The public offer closes on August 11 with shares due to start trading on August 31.

Dividend watch

Fletcher Building yesterday announced the departure of chief executive Mark Adamson, a drop in its earning guidance and a $220 million impairment.

Castle Point f und manager Stephen Bennie said the write-downs put question marks over what the final dividend would be.

The company will announce the dividend at its result next month.

Bennie said t he dividend announcement would be closely watched by global investment giant Black Rock which is Fletcher Building’s biggest investor.

Much of the investment by Black Rock is made via its dividend fund, he said, and there would be question marks over whether that investment should continue. Fletcher Building shares closed at $7.59 yesterday.