Dicker Data to float on the stock exchange

Dicker Data is preparing to list on the Australian Stock Exchange in a move intended to strengthen the company.

Dicker Data is in the process of completing a compliance listing where it needs 500 shareholders investing $2000 each.

Shareholders will own approximately 3 percent of the value of the company and director David Dicker and business partner Fiona Dicker will have the rest split between them.

David Dicker told CRN that the distributor will raise the necessary funds from Dicker's dealer base (customers).

"We feel moderately confident we'll be able to raise the 500. We've got a stock broker lined up who can bridge the gap if we fall short but even internally there's a lot of interest."

"I think a lot of our employees will buy shares."

Dicker told CRN that the plan to go public was on the cards for four to five years but was delayed because of the economic downturn.

"The market is certainly on the way up now and it seems like the good time to do it now," he said.

"We're not doing it to sell down our equity, we're just doing it to get on the board so we can put a value on the company and improve the strengths of the operation in terms of the banks and vendors," he said.

The company will operate as it does today, he said.

"We're already considered a large corporate by the ATO [Australian Tax Office]  which basically has us on the same level as a public company in terms of taxation and reporting.

"We've had our books audited for the last more than five years and you only need three years for the ASX listing. In a lot of ways we've done lot of the accounting and stuff we need for years."

Dicker said he aims to float the company by July 1. He will be chairman of the company and it will appoint a board.

The directors will be David Dicker, Fiona Dicker and three Dicker Data managers, he said.