Judo plots Europe jaunt to drum up investor interest
It was November 2021, and Judo Bank was riding high.
The brainchild of a former National Australia Bank executive, Joseph Healy, Judo was solely focused on small business lending. It was an area, Healy said, that the country’s big banks had ignored for too long.
That month would mark its biggest achievement to date – an ASX listing.
Joseph Healy admitted he was frustrated with Judo’s share price and said he was taken off guard by the market’s reaction to the bank’s disclosures over its refinancing of the RBA’s term funding facility. Louie Douvis
Offered at $2.10 a share, it was the first bank float in 25 years and did well on debut. By the end of its first day of trading, Judo shares were 7.6 per cent higher at $2.26. However, it did not take much longer for things to turn sour.
By the end of 2021, the shares were $2.17. A year later they were worth $1.33. On Friday, they closed at 86¢.
Mr Healy will next month head to Europe in a bid to woo new investors to the business. The Judo management team toured Japan and London in May to meet other investors.
He admits he is frustrated with the weakness in the share price, and hopes a more long-term focus can help arrest the slide. “We are going to talk to other large institutions who are familiar with the challenger banks and talk to them about the attractiveness of Judo,” Mr Healy said.
Bain Capital – also behind IPO-hopeful Virgin Australia – owns about 9 per cent of Judo. Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC owns 7 per cent, while fund management firms Fidelity and ECP both hold about 5 per cent each. Mr Healy said the support of these big backers was “refreshing”.
Judo also counted UniSuper among its backers, but the superannuation giant sold 85 per cent of its shares in
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