Gojek drivers will be waiting for orders outside a restaurant in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2020.
Photographer: Dimas Ardian / Bloomberg
Photographer: Dimas Ardian / Bloomberg
Indonesian riding and payload giant Gojek is in positive talks about teaming up with a local e-commerce pioneer PT Tokopedia, ahead of an original planned public offering of the connected entity, according to people with knowledge of the case.
The country ‘s two most valuable startups have signed a detailed term page to make due diligence on each other’ s business, the people said, who asked not to be named as the private conversations. Both sides see potential cooperation and want to close the agreement as soon as possible in the coming months, they said.
The merged entity created Indonesia’s internet powerhouse with a combined valuation of more than $ 18 billion. Its businesses include surfing and payments to online purchases and deliveries – a local mix of Uber Technologies Inc., PayPal Holdings Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and DoorDash Inc. It plans to go public in the US and Indonesia.
Gojek and Tokopedia have considered a possible merger from 2018, but talks after Gojek and arch-rival talks intensified after Grab Holdings Inc. has arrived. tension, the people said. Anthony Tan, Grab ‘s CEO, is still resisting pressure from Masayoshi Son at SoftBank Group Corp. said. to provide some control in an entity with Gojek, the people said.
Photographer: Akio Kon / Bloomberg
The two most valuable startups in Southeast Asia – together worth around $ 25 billion – held on-and-off talks to come together after years of strong competition in equestrian travel, delivery food and financial technology. As far as December, the companies were said to have made great strides in working out a contract to merge, people familiar with the talks told Bloomberg News at the time. But they were fighting against how they led Indonesia, the main market in the region.
Read more: Grab, Gojek is said to be closing in on terms of a union deal
Mac, who has been a staunch supporter of Tan in the past, is losing patience with Grab’s co-founder’s trust to take control of some and is now supporting unification between Gojek and Tokopedia with support from SoftBank, the folks said. Both home tech pioneers, including Google, Temasek Holdings Pte and The Sequoia Capital of India.
Representatives of Gojek and Tokopedia declined to comment.
The companies are valued at about $ 10.5 billion and about $ 7.5 billion, respectively, according to people familiar with their accounts, and union ratios are currently being debated. The founders of the two companies have been friends since their inception more than 10 years ago and are looking forward to a friendly alliance. Grab and Gojek talks were more controversial and they had not made enough progress to sign a term page, the people said.
Gojek and Tokopedia would be together in Indonesia, one of the fastest growing internet economies. Their US listed listing would give global investors an alternative Sea Ltd., the only major Southeast Asian internet company listed in U.S. Sea shares rose nearly 400% last year, boosted by the growing growth in the high-end its mobile gaming platform and online shopping.
Southeast Asia
Vietnam and Indonesia are the fastest growing digital economies in the region
Source: Google, Temasek, Bain & Company
A deal between Gojek and Tokopedia tends to be less of a regulatory complaint than the agreement previously considered. The combination of Grab and Gojek would reduce competition in surfing, delivery and digital payments in Southeast Asia, an expectation that government officials have already expressed doubts about.
The companies are considering several options for public offering. They could choose a traditional IPO in Indonesia and the U.S. or work with a blank check company for U.S. listing, one of the people said. A handful of blank check companies have held talks with the two companies in recent months, the man said.
Tokopedia said last month that it had hired Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc. as advisors to help accelerate his plan to go public, after Bloomberg News recite that Bridgetown Holdings Ltd., the blank check company backed by billionaires Richard Li and Peter Thiel, is considering a possible merger with the e-commerce giant. The special purpose construction company is examining the structure and feasibility of a contract with Tokopedia.
“We have not yet decided which market and method, and we are still considering options,” the Jakarta-based company said in a statement on December 16. “SPAC is an option which we might consider but we have not promised anything at the moment. ”