Astaga!com to offer its shares to public next year
Astaga!com to offer its shares to public next year
JAKARTA (JP): Internet portal Astaga!com plans to offer shares
to the public through the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX), following
the introduction of a development board in the exchange which
allows prospective start-ups to raise funds on the market.
Astaga!com president Andrew P. Hayek said on Thursday that the
company would rather wait for the market to recover before
offering shares to the public.
"Reasonably, it will be in the first quarter of next year. But
if the market is extremely hot, it may be sooner. But a good
guess is that it will be the first quarter of next year," he
said.
Hayek, however, refused to say how many shares Astaga!com
would offer to the public, and how much the shares would be sold
at.
Initially, the company planned to list its shares on overseas
markets, namely the over-the-counter Nasdaq in New York or on the
Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
But with JSX's introduction of the development board,
Astaga!com decided to float its shares on the JSX first, rather
than going to foreign markets.
"For Astaga to make a listing here makes a lot of sense,
because the brand is actually very powerful," Hayek said.
Nevertheless, Hayek did not rule out possibilities to list
Astaga!com shares on overseas markets as initially planned.
Hayek said the company appointed Lehman Brothers as its
financial advisor, and would appoint local investment banks as
underwriters for its Jakarta listing.
He expressed optimism that investors would be receptive over
the Astaga!com Jakarta listing, considering Astaga's "number one
position" in Indonesia's Internet market.
Hayek said Astaga recorded an average of 680,000 page views
per day, compared to about 200,000 page views booked by Detik.com
and 180,000 by Kompas.com.
"I had a couple of conversations with investment bankers, and
they are excited about Astaga's planned listing," he said.
He acknowledged that Astaga!com would not make a profit any
time soon, but he noted that the company would break even by the
end of next year.
Astaga!com was now focusing its efforts on building revenue
streams for the company, after a massive expansion for the last
six months, Hayek said.
One immediate source of income would come from advertising.
Hayek noted that a number of American-based companies had
committed to placing ads on the Astaga site.
"In the near future, you will see a lot more from Indonesian
companies," he said.
Another source of income will come from franchising Astaga
products, including clothing and credit cards. It plans to sell
these products at stores and shopping malls.
"Advertising and franchising will be the primary sources of
revenue for us," Hayek said.
The next source of income will be from its planned online
mall, in which many storefronts will offer various products to
Astaga visitors. Astaga will get a fee from transactions done at
the online mall.
"We believe it (the online mall) will become a source of
revenue, not enormous, but a source," he said.
Hayek said Astaga's costs would not rise any further. They
will remain relatively the same, whether visitors increase or
not, he said.
Hayek said Astaga would survive the tight competition and
eventually become a profitable venture, with increasing revenues
and relatively stable expenditures.
Meanwhile Myohdotcom Indonesia announced on Friday that it
would sell 250 million new shares in its initial public offering
next week.
The shares would be sold at Rp 150 each during the offering
period scheduled for July 12-18, the company said, adding that
the listing on the Surabaya Stock Exchange would be made on July
27.
The company said that about 45 percent of the IPO proceeds
would be used to finance the expansion of its technology
infrastructure, 25 percent for setting up a subsidiary, and the
other 20 percent for working capital. (rid)