Bukalapak Targets $1.5 Billion in Biggest Indonesia IPO

Tassia Sipahutar, Bloomberg News

A Qxpress worker puts packages for delivery on a conveyor belt at a Qoo10 Pte. warehouse in Singapore, on Thursday, April 9, 2020. An e-commerce boom comes as the spread of the coronavirus led to lockdowns in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, while many consumers stay home in Indonesia and Thailand to avoid the disease. Photographer: Wei Leng Tay/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Online marketplace Bukalapak aims to raise 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 giant stock market.

Bukalapak plans to offer as many as 25.77 billion shares at 750 to 850 rupiah apiece, the company said in an IPO prospectus. The company aims to debut Aug. 6, 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.

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.

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.

Read more: Indonesia Close to IPO Overhaul to Lure Mega Tech Listings