Insurance software company Duck Creek raises IPO price range

(Reuters) – Duck Creek Technologies Inc., a software company serving the real estate and non-life insurance market, on Wednesday raised the price range for its initial public offering and expects to raise approximately $ 375 million.

Boston-based Duck Creek, backed by private equity firm Apax Partners, estimates the offer of 15 million shares will be priced in the range of $ 23 to $ 25 per share and values ​​it at about $ 3.21 billion at the upper end of the interval. [19659002] The company had previously expected its listing to be priced between $ 19 and $ 21 per share.

The Coronavirus pandemic is driving the insurance industry to rely heavily on technology to reach its customers, focusing on startups such as SoftBank-backed Lemonade Inc., which recently priced its IPO well above the target range.

Following COVID-1

9-induced slowdown in global insurtech investments in the first months of 2020, $ 1.56 billion was raised in the second quarter, a 71% increase over the spruce St Will quarter, according to Willis Towers Watson PLC's latest insurtech report .

The real estate / accident industry accounted for 68% of the financing.

Insurance software has seen an increasing demand for products that give customers direct access to their information and help insurance providers reduce costs.

Duck Creek said that funds advised by the private equity firm Apax Partners will own approximately 33.8% of its common stock after the IPO, while IT consulting firm Accenture will own approximately 22.5%.

Goldman Sachs & Co, BofA Securities and JP Morgan are among the bookkeepers for the offer.