Category Archives: New Zealand

Clare Capital advises NZX on the sale of NewsRoom to Sublime Group

January 31, 2014Clare Capital, Investment Banking, M&A, New ZealandNewsRoom, NZX, Sublime Groupadmin Leave a comment

Clare Capital was the financial adviser to NZX Limited on the sale of their online news business, NewsRoom to Sublime Group Limited after NZX conducted a strategic review of options for the business.

NewsRoom is a subscription-based online news service which sends unfiltered press releases, announcements and opinion material to paying subscribers. NewsRoom was established in 1996 and was acquired by NZX in 2007. It’s news feeds serve New Zealand’s top legal and accounting firms, large corporations, government departments, and parliamentary offices.

NewsRoom draws their material from three different sources; free content supplied by organisations and individuals, purchasing content from specialist providers and a designated in-house NewsRoom team creating content on key political stories. Subscribers receive their information via NewsMail (email), intranet feeds and website feeds.

Clare Capital’s Thoughts on Xero’s Valuation

January 21, 2014Clare Capital, Commentary, Equity, New Zealand, ValuationXROadmin View all 2 comments

We produced a Thought Piece on our take on Xero’s valuation at the beginning of October 2013, before the US$150 million capital raise and when the share price was trading at $19.00. Three months later the share price is now at $42.00.

The Executive Summary of the Thought Piece is highlighted in the bullet points below:

Xero is a high-growth technology company and not a Ponzi scheme.
Losses are fine as long as value is being created.
However – from a fundamental valuation perspective Xero is a challenge. First – there are a wide range of future potential growth scenarios. Second – we don’t know when Xero will move to being cash flow positive. From patient for profit and impatient for growth – to the reverse.

Clare Capital advises MetOcean on sale to MetService

November 15, 2013Investments, New Zealand, ValuationMark Clare Leave a comment

Clare Capital was the financial adviser to MetOcean on their partial sale to MetService.

MetService, the nation’s state-owned weather forecaster, paid $3 million for a 49 per cent stake in privately owned New Zealand oceanographic consultancy MetOcean Solutions, giving it a foothold in a market worth more than $10 million.

The purchase will allow Wellington-based MetService to expand its research capability and add customised oceanographic forecasting and consultancy expertise to its global offering. For MetOcean, the tie up enables it to expand internationally with an established partner.

What is a share price

November 7, 2013Asset Sales, Investment Banking, Investments, New Zealand, Valuationassets, banking, finance, investments, shares, valuationsRhys Whiting Leave a comment

If you ask the simple question of “what is a share price?” – many people struggle to answer. People will have an opinion on whether the share price of Telecom or Air NZ is too low or too high – but they can’t answer the simple question of “why?”. I usually get an answer about assets – but nothing very specific.

So how does (or should) an investment banker think about the value of a business?

I am going to use a minimum of jargon here – I promise. Please see the glossary page for some definitions of valuation terminology, why various terms are used and more information about the valuation methodology.

Introducing myself – Mark Clare from Clare Capital

October 22, 2013Clare Capital, Investment Banking, New Zealandcorporate, finance, introduction, investmentsRhys Whiting Leave a comment

My name is Mark Clare and I am an investment banker working in New Zealand.

There is a lot of misconception and misunderstanding about the work I do. My industry is partly to blame for this situation. There is not a lot of “openness” in investment banking (or “IB” as it is called by insiders). But this is the 21^st century – and everything is in a state of flux.

I am building a 21^st century investment banking firm – I want it to be the first choice of anyone seeking corporate finance advice in New Zealand. This blog (a term I am not afraid of) is part of that process.