Good evening,

Chalk up Ventia Services as the final big cap IPO of the year.

The company’s brokers will relaunch the deal on Monday morning, albeit as a slimmed-down and cheaper version of what Ventia owners CIMIC Group and Apollo Global Management were initially after.

The new deal’s underwritten, which means Ventia will list, but it hasn’t been without drama. Investors rejected the earlier IPO at 12 to 14.5 times forecast profit, and will end up getting it at 8.5 times. CIMIC and Apollo will retain more than 95 per cent of their shares.

It’s a soft end to a roller-coaster year of small and big cap IPOs. The first half saw Pepper Money and Peter Warren Automotive make it to the ASX, and struggle, while the second half has seen six of the eight big contenders secure their debuts.

There’ll be plenty of talk about the IPO market in coming weeks and what it means for next year. The reality is that most of those that got away this year had to either trim price expectations or fiddle with deal structures.

In Street Talk tomorrow, we take a look at Ventia’s new deal, and a smaller REIT from Newmark that was also underwritten at the weekend.

We have also spotted Cleanaway Waste Management in an auction and considering taking on cashed-up private capital investors, and reveal what’s going on in Icon Group’s auction.

Happy reading,
Anthony Macdonald, Yolanda Redrup and Kanika Sood
Street Talk editors