JAKARTA: Indonesia’s biggest tech firm GoTo Group is testing investors’ appetite with a public offering that is set to raise up to 17.992 trillion rupiah (US$1.3 billion) this month, marking the second-biggest domestic offering in the booming sector.
Goto was formed last year through the merger of ride-hailing-to-payments firm Gojek and e-commerce leader Tokopedia in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, just as regional rival Grab Holdings expanded furiously in Indonesia.
The widely-expected IPO comes after Goto, which counts Alibaba Group, SoftBank Group Corp and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC among its many backers, secured over US$1.3 billion in a pre-IPO funding exercise in late 2021.
“GoTo is still in early adoption, with market penetration rates relatively lower than developing countries,” Andre Soelistyo, GoTo’s CEO told an investor briefing on Tuesday (Mar 15).
GoTo said in its prospectus that it plans to sell up to 52 billion new Series A shares and set a price range of 316 rupiah to 346 rupiah per share for the issue.
At the top end, the company will be valued at nearly US$29 billion, making it one of the biggest Indonesian firms. The book-building process starts Tuesday and ends on Mar 21, with Apr 4 set as the estimated listing date.
“We are glad to sit on the front row seat of witnessing the Indonesian dream. Given its size and scale, GoTo is the real test for the Indonesia Stock Exchange,” said Willson Cuaca, co-founder of East Ventures and an early backer of Tokopedia.
The IPO comes at a time when global stocks have tumbled and issuers are postponing offerings as the crisis in Ukraine pushes up commodity prices, stoking worries of economic damage.
Still, GoTo executives remained upbeat on prospects for growth in Indonesia.
“Indonesia is one of the largest and most exciting growth markets in the world, as reflected in the resilience our capital market has shown this year, against a backdrop of global market volatility,” said Soelistyo, a former private equity executive.
Some commodity-heavy markets such as Indonesia are holding up, with the local index up 5.7per cent so far this year after rising to a record high in recent weeks.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, food delivery, e-commerce and payment services have seen explosive growth in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, with investors rushing to back fast-growing companies.
Goto said its proforma gross revenue grew at a compound annual growth rate of 56 per cent between 2018 and 2020 and 55 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2021. It reported gross revenue of 15.1 trillion rupiah in the year ending Sep 30.
PT Indo Premier Sekuritas, PT Mandiri Sekuritas and PT Trimegah Sekuritas Indonesia are the joint lead underwriters for the IPO.