The young and the old are set to join forces for ESG-inclusive commodities marketplace Xpansiv’s latest capital raise, with Barrenjoey and Shaw and Partners rustling up interest in the company’s new raising.

Shaw and Partners will bring some grey hair to the transaction (the wealth management firm was founded in 1987) while new kid on the block Barrenjoey is keen to make its mark.

Industry sources expect the Macquarie-backed Xpansiv to raise more than $US50 million, having already banked a $US40 million pre-IPO round. This too is being positioned as a pre-IPO raise, with the business already angling for a tilt at the ASX boards.

The business, led by CEO Joe Madden, allows the transaction of renewable energy, carbon offsets, differentiated materials, and water on ESG-centric spot markets CBL, H2OX, ACE, and OTX.

Xpansiv grew trading volumes by 374 per cent in the June quarter, compared to the same time last year. For the year-to-date, the carbon volume traded has tipped 50 million metric tons, up more than 60 per cent on the whole of 2020.

The result of the merger of decade-old Sydney-based commodity spot exchange CBL Markets and San Francisco’s Xpansiv (a commodity data company), the combined business also counts the likes of Caledonia’s Will Vicars, BP’s venture capital arm, S&P Global, Larry Leibowitz and the Fairfax family office Cambooya Investments as backers.

American billionaire and private equity pioneer Thomas H. Lee and Jack Klinck, a former executive at State Street and BNY Mellon, also have positions thanks to their investments in CBL.

The company’s water exchange H2OX is its biggest business in Australia.

It pushed into Europe in March with the acquisition of OTX - an electronic trading and voice platform for fuels.

The capital raise is designed to accelerate its expansion plans, with Xpansiv keen to consolidate the company’s position as the core infrastructure provider for ESG-related commodity markets.

Article source: AFR, 21 July 2021