Software deals are back in fashion and New Zealand has a new sale process to contribute.
Auckland’s Netlogix, a freight management platform that has expanded into Australia under seven years of private equity ownership, has mandated Macquarie Capital’s bankers as it ticks past $NZ200 million ($179.6 million) in annual revenue.
Street Talk understands Netlogix is chasing growth equity, including to help it sign bolt-on acquisitions. Sources said MacCap’s Kiwi bankers had begun the legwork for the mooted capital partner search.
Mid-market investor Pencarrow Private Equity has owned a majority stake in the business since 2017 and, naturally, it wouldn’t be surprising if it seeks to take some money off the table. However, the deal structure is yet to be finalised.
Netlogix, founded in 2012, runs a digital platform that optimises freight movement across several shipper and carrier networks. It reckons 40 per cent of all freight kilometres in Australia and New Zealand are “empty kilometres” and its platform can be a better matchmaker between shippers and carriers to save costs and reduce emissions.
It’s preparing to test investor appetite just as software businesses wade back into dealmaking after a lull, as the interest rate cycle turned and took the steam out of valuations.
Software deals consummated in recent months include Melbourne-born HR software business PageUp, where Battery Ventures sold its stake to Swedish private equity giant EQT Partners, which has also just bought Potentia Capital’s hospitality booking platform NewBook. Tanarra Capital sold INX Software to Accel-KKR last month in the first exit for its private equity business.
Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.
From the column
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