PWR ON THE GRID FOR $150M SHARE OFFER

PWR Holdings, the Gold Coast company that has been cooling the engines of the world's hottest car racing teams for almost two decades, has launched a $150 million float of its shares on the Australian Securities Exchange.

The planned listing, which was mooted last month after the appointment of former Super Cheap Retail Group (ASX:SUL) managing director Bob Thorn as chairman, is aimed at giving PWR the firepower to expand deeper into global markets.

PWR, which was founded by father-and son team Kees and Paul Weel in 1998, already has an impressive customer base that includes racing teams in Formula 1, V8 Supercars, NASCAR, IndyCar Racing League and World Rally Championship.

"Our goal is to maintain revenue growth by leveraging our track record in elite motorsports to grow our automotive and emerging technology cooling markets," says Thorn.

"PWR's DNA of passion, winning and results has delivered strong revenue and profit growth in the last two years and forecast growth for 2016."

The company is forecasting FY16 revenue of $46.994 million and EBITDA of $16.162 million, up 44 per cent and 34 per cent respectively from FY15. The growth builds on an impressive compound revenue growth of 40 per cent per annum from 2013 to 2015.

Under the proposed ASX float, PWR is offering 54.5 million shares, which includes the issue of 16.1 million new shares, for $1.50 each per share.

The IPO will see the company's founding shareholders cash in 38.4 million of their shares for a $57.6 million.  The Weels will own 38.4 per cent of the company after listing, with Kees Weel remaining as CEO of the company.

About $20 million raised from the issue will be used to repay debt, and the company has forecast it will pay its first dividend of 4.2c to shareholders in April for the current half-year.

The share offer, fully underwritten by Morgans Corporate, opens on October 22 with the shares expected to list on the ASX on November 18.  

The ASX share code will be PWH.  

PWR has identified motorsports as its key market, accounting for 64 per cent of forecast revenue this financial year.

The company's primary production facility is located at Ormeau on the Gold Coast, although in recent years PWR has expanded its operations to Mooresville and Indianapolis in the US and Tamworth in the UK.

The UK and Europe account for 60 per cent of the company's sales, while about 25 per cent comes from the US.

Kees Weel has previously indicated PWR is exploring broader applications in emerging industries for its technology which provides customised cooling solutions for high performance vehicles.

In 2013, PWR was asked to assist Google renewable energy subsidiary Makani Power to develop cooling solutions for its energy kite, which is a 'floating' wind turbine. The company is also exploring opportunities with hybrid and electric vehicles, as well as trucks, buses and military vehicles.

PWR says orders for cooling solutions for a number of automotive and non-automotive emerging technologies will account for 5 per cent of forecast revenue this financial year.