Tattersall's to list on Australian stock exchange

MELBOURNE - Australia's biggest privately-owned company, gaming giant Tattersall's, is expected to list on the Australian Stock Exchange in early July after a A$2.03 billion ($2.20 billion) float.

Tattersall's said in a prospectus lodged today that retail investors could apply for shares at A$2.90 per share.

The company will have about 700 million shares on issue at the time of listing.

Beneficiaries and staff of the company will take up 600 million shares and 100 million new shares will be offered to the public.

The retail share offer is expected to open on June 10 and close on June 29.

A final price will be established for the shares following an institutional bookbuild to be conducted from July 4 to July 5.

"Listing on the ASX will provide new opportunities to write the next chapters in the history of Tattersall's," Tattersall's chairman David Jones said.

Tattersall's chief executive Duncan Fischer said listing would provide Tattersall's with greater access to capital for expansion and help the company position itself for gaming and lottery licences.

"It will allow us to build even further on our strong brands, our reputation of trust and integrity, and our deep and long experience in the gaming and lotteries industries," Mr Fischer said.

Tattersall's is forecasting total revenue of A$2.52 billion for the year ending June 30, 2006, with total earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) of A$228.8 million.

Tattersall's is expected to have a market capitalisation of A$2.03 billion on listing.

Tattersall's has had to restructure from a private entity with about 2,500 beneficiaries into a corporate entity before beginning the process to list on the ASX.

Tattersall's had been expected to float on the ASX late last year but it was delayed by opposition from the trust's beneficiaries and the need to secure favourable rulings in relation to the restructure from the Australian Tax Office.

Tattersall's holds one of two gaming machine licences in Victoria, has keno operations in a joint venture with Tabcorp, and operates the lottery in Victoria, the Northern Territory and Tasmania.

Tattersall's operates about 13,500 poker machines in Victoria.

- AAP