Blibli could merge with Tiket.com as it finalizes its $500 million IPO

blibli could IPO
Image by Sharaf Maksumov | Bigstockphoto

Indonesian e-commerce company Blibli is reportedly raising $500 million in an IPO on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, and could merge with sister travel booking firm Tiket.com if the IPO goes ahead.

The company is apparently in the final stages of preparation for the IPO, which could happen as soon as the end of July, a report by Deal Street Asia revealed. A merger with Tiket would value Blibli at $4 billion before going public.

Blibli acquired Tiket in 2017, but the two firms have been operating as separate entities. Merger talks between the two surfaced in April this year.

As early as 2021, Tiket.com was said to be in talks with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) called COVA Acquisition. However, the lackluster performance of SPAC mergers over the last year has apparently led the company to reconsider its options.

Blibli’s IPO comes as it looks to expand its operations and compete with other e-commerce giants in Southeast Asia. Currently, the company is one of the leading e-commerce platforms in Indonesia. However, it faces stiff competition from the likes of Tokopedia, Shopee, and Bukalapak.

An IPO would allow Blibli to tap into the growing demand for e-commerce in Indonesia. The country’s e-commerce market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23.8% growth in 2022 and reach IDR420.8 trillion ($30 billion) at the end of this year, according to a report by GlobalData.

If successful, the Blibli IPO would be one of the largest in Indonesia in recent years, next to the likes of GoTo, who raised $1.1 billion during its much-awaited IPO on 11 April. The unicorn ended the day with a market capitalization of $32 billion.

However, the planned IPOs of GoTo and Blibli have not received much optimism from analysts. At the start of 2022, investors were worried about the overvaluation of tech firms and the potential for a bubble. The global market was also facing some uncertainty due to global tensions and supply chain troubles.

Furthermore, several SPAC mergers failed to follow through on the hype and ended up losing billions of dollars in value.

In Indonesia, shares in Bukalapak, Indonesia’s largest e-commerce platform, plunged after its CEO announced his resignation. The firm had raised $1.5 billion in what was hailed as Indonesia’s biggest public offering last year. However, from then until January 2022, its shares had lost 66% of their value. This has led to concerns about the future of tech IPOs in Indonesia and the region.

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