Phocas courts global buyers | Rex flyer hits inboxes | Booktopia winner emerges | Unilabs keeps tabs on I-MED

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Sydney’s Phocas Software, which sells data analytics software to retailers, manufacturers and distributors across the world, is dressing up for a deep-pocketed global suitor as it races towards $100 million in annual recurring revenue in the coming year.

Sources said Phocas has called in an investment bank – understood to be Evercore – to advise on its options. Should it launch a deal, it is expected to include a selldown for its early backer OneVentures as well as Ellerston’s JAADE fund, which led a fundraising round in 2021.

Although Phocas doesn’t command the same star power as some technology businesses that line the portfolios of local VC firms, it has grown into a sizeable business whose valuation is expected to breach $500 million. Co-founder and chief executive Myles Glashier declined to comment when contacted by Street Talk.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

Confidential sale documents for Regional Express (REX) now circulating among prospective buyers show exactly how its administrators at EY and their sell-side advisers, Houlihan Lokey, are marketing the airline.

Australian shares rose for the second consecutive session, tracking an improving sentiment globally, as investors reassessed the outlook for the economy and interest rates after Monday’s rout.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.