Blibli owner Global Digital pulls off its $500m IPO

blibli global digital IPO
Image by bangoland | Bigstockphoto

PT Global Digital Niaga, the owner of Indonesia’s e-commerce group Blibli, launched its planned IPO on Tuesday. While its shares ended flat at the end of the day, Global Digital still became the largest IPO in Jakarta since GoTo’s IPO in April.

Global Digital – backed by Indonesian conglomerate Djarum Group – quickly raised 7.99 trillion rupiah ($509 million) in the offering on Tuesday. Upon this IPO, Blibli’s market capitalization stood at 53.3 trillion rupiah.

Global Digital’s shares rose by as much 4.9% shortly after the market opened. However, the gains were erased shortly afterward, and the price remained unchanged at 450 rupiah each.

Not bad for a tech stock in 2022

Even so, its IPO result is relatively encouraging given that other tech stocks are taking a beating.

While most of emerging Asia is in contraction this year, Jakarta’s stock market has been a bright spot, with growth of about 7%. Indonesia has been one of the few in the region to issue new equity over the last year or so, with a number of IPOs including e-commerce players Bukalapak and GoTo.

“We hope that our listing will increase investor confidence in Indonesia’s tech sector, as well as have a positive effect on the country’s digital economy,” Global Digital President Commissioner Martin Hartono said in a statement.

No selling pressure for Blibli

“As the existing shareholders, Djarum Group has committed to not exit from Blibli after the IPO, we won’t see any selling pressure like we saw in Bukalapak and GoTo,” Doni Firdaus, an investment director at Bahana TCW Investment Management, told Bloomberg.

That said, Firdaus also noted that ongoing negative sentiments towards the tech sector will also impact Blibli’s shares.

Bukalapak, Indonesia’s largest e-commerce firm, made a lackluster debut on the Jakarta stock exchange in August 2021. The firm raised $1.5 billion in one of the biggest public offerings in the country, but its shares now stand below listing value.

GoTo, a merger between GoJek and Tokopedia, had a strong start in April 2022, but after a brief rally, its shares had given up most of their gains and prices returned to the IPO level.

Three weeks ago, the company was in negotiations with its major investors, including Alibaba and SoftBank, for a controlled sale of around $1 billion worth of their stakes.

Related article: Blibli aims to be Indonesia’s next unicorn with $530m IPO

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