David Kirk's Bailador in for $1.3m payday as Straker Translations' IPO details confirmed

Ex-All Black captain David Kirk is now chairman, executive director and co-owner of Sydney-based Bailador Investments.

Ex-All Black captain David Kirk's Bailador Investments will sell a portion of its shares worth around A$1.24 million ($1.3m) in Straker Translations' IPO.

The Auckland translation software company's prospectus, released today, confirms details of its Australian Stock Exchange listing that were leaked last week.

Straker Translations will sell 12.2 million new shares and 1.9m existing shares at A$1.51 to raise A$21.2m in a listing that will value the company at around A$79.4m.

Bailador (which Kirk runs and co-owns) will sell 823,000 of its 8.2m shares, reducing its holding from 20.4 per cent to 14.1 per cent as its holding is diluted by the issue of new shares (Bailador's remaining 7.4m shares will be worth around A$11.2m, a tidy return on the A$4.5m it invested in 2014).

But founders Grant and Merryn Straker are keeping the faith, selling none of their shares in the listing. The couple (the second largest shareholders after Bailador) will see their holding diluted from 18.1 per cent to 13.9 per cent in the float, however.

The listing is expected on October 22.

Proceeds from the listing are earmarked for sales, marketing, product development and takeovers.

Ex-Paratrooper Grant Straker is keeping the faith with Straker Translations' IPO, selling none of the shares he owns with his wife, cofounder Merryn Straker.

Grant Straker co-founded Straker Translations with his wife Merryn in 1999, after earlier spending six years in the British Army as a paratrooper before moving into sales. Its software uses artificial intelligence software for language translation - but also humans to refine the results, which the chief executive says gives it the edge over free solutions such as Google Translate.

The startup gained momentum in 2015 when Bailador made its A$4.5m investment.

The prospectus reveals Straker has raised a total of $22.5m over the past three years. The funds have gone toward acquiring translation companies in the US, Ireland, Spain and Germany. Today, Straker has 120 staff and 8400 customers worldwide and 88 per cent of its revenue from outside Australasia.

IPO documents also confirm Straker would have broken into profit this year, had it not been for listing costs.

Straker forecasts revenue will rise 38 per cent to $23.5m in the year to March 31, 2019, with a net loss of $2.5m (vs a net loss of $1.5m last year). Without listing costs, the company would make an operating profit of $199,000, the prospectus says.

Grant Straker declined comment, citing an ASIC compliance process taking place this week.