Amid the funding winter for tech firms and a global market downturn, Blibli owner PT Global Digital Niaga plans to raise up to $530 million in what would be Indonesia’s second-largest initial public offering (IPO) this year.
The e-commerce group, which is backed by conglomerate Djarum Group, said it will offer 15% of total capital in a share sale offering set for Nov. 1-3, according to a prospectus. Blibli’s operator plans to sell as many as 17.77 billion shares at a price range of 410 rupiah to 460 rupiah each.
Funds raised through the IPO will be used to repay debt and for working capital to develop the platform further, Blibli said.
Also, Blibli Tiket
In addition to the IPO, Blibli also recently announced a unified omnichannel ecosystem called Blibli Tiket, which merges its offerings with those of its two subsidiaries: travel booking platform Tiket.com and supermarket chain Ranch Market.
A Blibli spokesperson told Tech in Asia that all channels and platforms will be integrated but didn’t go into detail about what the integration involves or if a legal merger is happening.
In June, reports of Blibli merging with Tiket.com (which it acquired in 2017) surfaced. A report by Deal Street Asia revealed that the move could value Blibli at $4 billion before going public.
Indonesia’s next unicorn?
Blibli’s IPO follows the IPO of GoTo, the Indonesian unicorn that resulted from the merger between ride-hailing and payments firm Gojek and ecommerce firm Tokopedia. GoTo raised $1.1 billion in what was the country’s biggest IPO this year. According to GoTo CEO Andre Soelistyo, the focus was on Indonesia, with a local investor audience.
Local IPOs in Indonesia are expected to increase, as tech firms globally have been challenged by the pandemic to find new sources of revenue. Also, recent SPAC mergers have been largely unsuccessful.
Across Southeast Asia, where internet usage has surged during the health crisis, regional online spending is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2025, according to a report by Google, Bain, and Temasek Holdings.
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