Onex bought Emerald in 2013 for $950-million.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Onex Corp.-backed Emerald Expositions Events Inc. is seeking to raise as much as $310-million in its initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing Monday.
The San Juan Capistrano, California-based trade show operator plans to price its shares between $18 and $20 apiece and sell 15.5 million shares in the offering, the filing shows. At the mid-point of the range, Emerald would have a valuation of about $1.37-billion based on 72.2 million shares outstanding.
About 10.3 million shares will be offered by the company, for an estimated net $178.1-million, while about 5.2 million will be offered by its selling shareholders. The company intends to use the proceeds to pay down debt and general corporate purposes.
Toronto-based Onex, Canada's largest publicly traded private equity firm, bought Emerald from Nielsen NV in 2013 for $950-million.
The company intends to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "EEX." Onex and its affiliates will continue to hold about 77.7 per cent of Emerald shares after the IPO, it said.
The share sale is being led by Bank of America, Barclays, and the Goldman Sachs Group.