Jatis to open offices in Thailand, RP

JAKARTA (JP): E-business consultancy Jatis Solutions plans to expand to neighboring Thailand and the Philippines in line with its target of becoming the region's IT powerhouse, a senior executive said.

"Thailand and the Philippines are basically the same as Indonesia. Their manufacturers are highly dependent on distributors and will need Jatis' e-business solutions," Jatis president and CEO Jusuf Sjariffudin said in a media gathering.

Jatis will invest between US$1 million to $2 million to acquire the companies in each country, he said declining to name the companies involved.

Jusuf also said that the company had, earlier in the month, acquired an e-business consultancy company in Singapore to represent Jatis there. The Singapore company, Liahoni, was acquired with an investment of about $3.3 million, he said.

Jusuf said Jatis recently received an additional equity investment of about $8.5 million from London-based company 3i and Singapore's ITG.

He said that new investment would go into the expansion of its Indonesian branch especially towards human resources and development.

"In May 2000, 3i invested $2 million into Jatis, and this is the second round of investments," he said.

Jatis recorded a 399 percent growth in total revenues to between $3 million and $5 million in 2000, Jusuf said, adding that this year it predicted revenues would grow about 200 percent.

"Since we first operated in 1997, Jatis had seen average growth of 200 percent each year. This year we predict the same," he said.

The company plans to sell some of its shares to the public to raise more investment to finance its expansion program, Jusuf said, adding that the initial public offering (IPO) of the company's shares would be launched later this year.

"We have been ready for a long time now to go public, but we don't want to rush it. We don't want to float shares but then disappoint our investors," he remarked.

Jatis, established late in 1997 in Jakarta, is an IT company providing solutions for corporations eager to go into e-business, and since then has opened offices in Singapore and Malaysia.

The company is jointly owned by local and foreign investors including the London-based IT consultant 3i and Singapore's ITG. But Jusuf said the majority of company shares are still controlled by local investors.

Working together with software development company, Oracle, Jatis provides business applications such as enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, human resource management, and customer relations management.

Its customers include Bank Central Asia (BCA), Bank Universal, retailer PT Alfa Retailindo, also cigarette producers PT Gudang Garam, and PT HM Sampoerna. (tnt)