FILE PHOTO: A street sign for Wall Street is seen outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City
NEW YORK: Vista Equity Partners-backed automotive data and software services provider Solera Corp has filed publicly for a US initial public offering (IPO), as the market for first-time share sales shows little sign of slowing into the summer.
The filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report, didn’t include the price range and number of shares, which are expected to be disclosed in a future filing.
Solera may seek to raise as much as US$1.5bil at a valuation of about US$10bil to US$13bil, people familiar with the matter have said.
The company, which analyses vehicle life-cycle data for clients including insurers and dealers, could start marketing the deal to prospective investors as soon as mid-July, people familiar with the matter have said.
Solera filed confidentially for the IPO, according to a statement in May.
The filing comes as US IPO volume has gotten off to its best start to a year since the heady days of 2021, with more than US$21bil raised in the first six months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
With sales of convertible bonds and shares in already-listed companies also nearing pandemic-era levels, the stuttering activity seen last year has evolved into a regular rhythm. Though surpassing 2021’s historic volume isn’t on the horizon yet, confidence is growing that 2024 is the bounce-back year that a slew of would-be public companies have been waiting for.
Other sizeable US listings expected in the coming weeks include temperature-controlled storage and logistics giant Lineage Inc, which filed for an IPO on June 26. The company could seek as much as US$3.5bil in the IPO, people familiar with the matter have said.
Solera is a global software-as-a-service provider of integrated vehicle life-cycle and fleet management.
It helps clients address vehicle claims, vehicle repairs, vehicle management and fleet management. Solera serves more than 280,000 customers globally as of November, according to the filing.
The company had a net loss of US$486.3mil on revenue of US$2.44bil in the 12 months to March 31, 2024, compared with a net loss of US$380.6mil on US$2.36bil of revenue in the same period a year earlier, the filing shows.
In 2016, Vista and a group of investors that included a unit of Koch Industries Inc took Solera private in a deal that valued the company at about US$6.5bil, a statement at the time showed.
Solera intends to use the proceeds of the offering to repay indebtedness and for general corporate purposes. After the IPO, Vista is expected to continue to control a majority of the voting power, the filing shows.
The offering is being led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp and Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Solera is planning to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SLRA. — Bloomberg
