Match Updates Underwriters in IPO Filing

November 3, 2015 by Chris Lange

Match Group has filed an S-1 form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its initial public offering (IPO). No terms were given in the filing, but the offering is valued up to $100 million, although this number is usually just a placeholder. The company intends to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol MTCH.

The original underwriters listed in the filing were JPMorgan, Allen and Merrill Lynch. However in this updated filing, Match added Deutsche Bank, BMO Capital Markets, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Cowen, Oppenheimer, PNC Capital Markets, Societe Generale and Fifth Third Securities.

This is the world’s leading provider of dating products. It operates a portfolio of over 45 brands, including Match, OkCupid, Tinder, Meetic, Twoo, OurTime and FriendScout24, each designed to increase users’ likelihood of finding a romantic connection. Through its portfolio of trusted brands, Match provides tailored products to meet the varying preferences of the users. In addition, the company has agreed to acquire Plentyoffish Media.

Match currently offers its dating products in 38 languages across over 190 countries, and it had approximately 59 million monthly active users and roughly 4.7 million paid members, using its dating products as of the quarter ended September 30, 2015.

The target market includes all adults in North America, Western Europe and other select countries around the world who are not in a committed relationship and who have access to the Internet, which, based on a survey administered by Research Now in July 2015, Match estimates at approximately 511 million people. Consumer preferences within this population vary significantly, influenced in part by demographics, geography, religion and sensibility. As a result, the market for dating products is fragmented, and no single product has been able to effectively serve the dating category as a whole.

In the filing Match detailed its finances:

Our revenue increased from $713.4 million in 2012 to $803.1 million in 2013 and then to $888.3 million in 2014, representing year-over-year increases of 13% and 11%, respectively. In 2012, 2013 and 2014, we generated Adjusted EBITDA of $236.5 million, $271.2 million, and $273.4 million, respectively, operating income of $186.6 million, $221.3 million and $228.6 million, respectively, and net earnings of $90.3 million, $126.6 million and $148.4 million, respectively.

The company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to pay down its debt, as well as for general corporate purposes.

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