PropertyGuru closes at US$8.46, down 1.7% on its NYSE debut

PROPERTY listing platform PropertyGuru's share price fell 1.7 per cent or US$0.15 to close at US$8.46 on its first trading day in the US. It debuted on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at US$8.61 on Friday (Mar 18), and had fallen US$0.82 or 9.5 per cent to a low of US$7.79 in the first hour of trading before paring losses.

The listing, which counts as another Singapore unicorn delivering an exit to investors after similar moves by Grab and Sea, follows an aborted listing attempt on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2019. PropertyGuru was founded 15 years ago by Steve Mulhuish and Jani Rautiainen.

It listed via a business combination with special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Bridgetown 2, which is backed by billionaires Peter Thiel and Richard Li.

Hari Krishnan, chief executive officer of PropertyGuru, said: "As we look ahead, we will continue to invest in technology and expand our services and offerings to build on our leading positions in Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand."

PropertyGuru has been valued at an enterprise value (the value of the business without the equity structure) of US$1.4 billion; its equity value is US$1.6 billion. The platform secured US$100 million in private investment in public equity (PIPE) from asset managers Ballie Gifford, Naya Capital, Akaris Global Partners and an undisclosed Malaysian asset manager. Australian-listed property platform REA Group also chipped in for the PIPE.

In addition to the PIPE investment, REA Group invested an additional US$32 million, and along with private equity firms, KKR and TPG Group, rolled 100 per cent of their PropertyGuru equity, not exiting their holdings with the listing.

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The property listing platform received US$254 million in gross proceeds comprising the above investments as well as US$122 million from Bridgetown 2's trust account. Shareholder redemptions for the SPAC was at 59.3 per cent, with a value of US$177.4 million.

PIPE investors are subject to a lock-up of 30 days, sponsor shares are subject to a lock-up of a year, and founder shares can only be released from a lock-up if the last sale price of shares exceeds US$12.00 a share for 20 trading days in a 30 day-period after 150 days from the business combination.

PropertyGuru is listing amid a challenging environment for tech companies, as shares of US-listed Sea and Grab are down some 58 per cent this year after disappointing earnings reports.

In its latest FY2021 results, PropertyGuru reported a revenue increase of 22.7 per cent from S$82.1 million to S$100.7 million; this was 3.3 per cent higher than its projections. The company said it was on track to return to positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) this year. Adjusted Ebitda excludes share-based payments, costs of its recent acquisition and integration of REA Group in Malaysia, one-off and ongoing costs of listing and impact from listing proceeds investments.