Jade Software names UBS Warburg as manager of float planned for next year

By Nick Stride

Friday 21st June 2002

Jade Software Corporation has appointed UBS Warburg as lead manager for its float and Stock Exchange listing.

The float is still on course for the first half of next year, "subject to equity market conditions at the time."

Jade, formerly Aoraki Corporation, is the company founded in 1978 by chief executive Sir Gil Simpson.

It is on a rapid growth path and the float is expected to value the company at between $100 million and $150 million.

Sir Gil has 90% of the shares, with the rest held by staff.

In November last year Jade completed a "first round" financing by issuing $12.2 million worth of notes that will convert into equity on listing.

Investors included venture capital company I-cap, whose chairman, Ruth Richardson, is also Jade's chairman; Roger Bhole, a US investor; and Active Equities, the vehicle of former Brierley Investments executives Paul Collins and Bruce Hancox.

Jade has around 320 staff, of whom 250 are programmers.

It has subsidiaries in Australia, the UK and the US.

The bedrock of its success has been the Linc mainframe software product which was sold to 4000 organisations around the world by Unisys Corporation.

In 1996 it launched Jade, an enterprise application development that is "a response to the challenge of building information systems that help organisations to respond to internet-empowered customers."

It now earns all its revenue from the Jade product and from Jade-based services in sectors such as healthcare, human resources, education, and ports and shipping.

The float timetable was set back by last September's terrorist attacks in the US.

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