Afilias plans to raise $100 million, warchest will help in fresh top level domain auctions

Afilias will float its shares on the AIM next month, and use proceeds in part to fund upcoming fresh TLD auctions.

Domain name registry Afilias disclosed today that it intends to trade on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM, raising $100 million.

In doing so, Afilias will join fellow registries Minds + Machines and CentralNic on AIM.

Afilias states its registry operations are second only to Verisign in size. It supports more than 20 million domain names; 6.6 million directly and 13.5 million as a registry service provider to other registries.

The firm operates the .info, .mobi and .pro top level domain names and 8 more (counting .blue, .pink and .black) as part of the fresh top level domain name program. These make up the 6.6 million.

The 13.5 million as a service provider cover .org, .asia and a number of country code top level domain names. This number ought to grow as its fresh top level domain name clients launch their domains.

Afilias generated $77.625 million in revenue last year, up slightly from $74.5 million in the year prior. It had an operating profit of $30.4 million last year and threw off a whopping $45.9 million in operating cash flow.

Through the first six months this year, the firm had revenue of $39.4 million.

Afilias states it will use the bankroll to acquire contested fresh TLDs in upcoming auctions, acquire existing TLDs and domain name businesses, and develop the firm’s registrar business to become a vertically integrated operation.

The firm plans to be admitted to the AIM next month.