ADVERTISEMENT

Bukalapak Targets $1.5 Billion in Biggest Indonesia IPO

Bukalapak Targets $1.5 Billion in Biggest Indonesia IPO

Online marketplace Bukalapak aims to raise as much as 21.9 trillion Indonesian rupiah ($1.5 billion) in an initial public offering, the first of Indonesia’s tech unicorns to tap the country’s stock market.

Bukalapak plans to offer about 19.3 billion shares at 750 to 850 rupiah apiece, raising about $1.1 billion, according to terms of the deal obtained by Bloomberg News. The e-commerce giant would be valued at about $5.6 billion. It also set an over-allotment or greenshoe option that could take the total shares issued to a maximum 25.77 billion shares.

The company aims to debut Aug. 6, the company said in an IPO prospectus, taking advantage of plans to relax requirements around listings. At the top of the range, it would rank as Indonesia’s largest-ever IPO, eclipsing PT Adaro Energy’s $1.3 billion offering in 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company started taking investor orders for the offering Friday and plans to price the shares on July 19, according to terms of the deal.

Bukalapak’s IPO will be a milestone for the Southeast Asian nation. The coronavirus pandemic has boosted demand for e-commerce in the world’s fourth most populous country, where it competes with rivals such as SoftBank Group Corp.-backed Tokopedia, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Lazada Group and Shopee, a unit of Singapore-based Sea Ltd.

Bukalapak had revenue of $95.8 million in 2020 and 104.9 million registered users, it said in a release. “Through this IPO plan, we can further strengthen our business network and provide opportunities” for small merchants and others in the digital ecosystem, Chief Executive Officer Rachmat Kaimuddin said in the statement.

Indonesia -- whose $450 billion stock market value eclipses that of Singapore’s -- is headed for a bumper year. There have been more than 20 IPOs so far this year and more are in the pipeline, IDX Director I Gede Nyoman Yetna told reporters last week. Besides Bukalapak and ride-hailing giant GoTo, three other local firms with a combined value of roughly $2 billion are looking to float shares, Pandu Sjahrir, a commissioner at the Indonesia Stock Exchange, has said.

From Hong Kong to London, stock exchanges around the world are trying to capture a slice of a global IPO boom. Indonesia joins its fellow bourses in relaxing regulations to entice often loss-making but highly sought-after fast-growth startups. Bukalapak is going public as Southeast Asia’s startup scene matures and investors seek exits: the region’s most valuable private firm, Grab Holdings Inc., aims to go public via a blank-check firm in the second half of the year.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.