By
Temitope Olatunji
April 19th, 2024
Indonesian e-commerce company Blibli is up 5% following its IPO on the country’s stock exchange Tuesday.
In what turned out to be the second-largest initial public offering (IPO) this year in Indonesia, shares of e-commerce company Blibli have risen 4.9%. On Tuesday, the company’s stock rose to 472 rupiah in its debut on the Indonesian Stock Exchange. It was changing hands at a relatively lower, yet still admirable, 452 rupiah during the early afternoon trading session.
Blibli IPO Arrives amid Macroeconomic Headwinds
The Blibli IPO comes amid global macroeconomic constraints such as soaring inflation, higher interest rates, and rising energy prices. In addition, the e-commerce’s Indonesian stock market debut also comes as global tech stock prices stutter ahead of a looming recession.
Following the positive IPO development of Blibli, and by extension, parent company PT Global Digital Niaga Tbk, investor confidence may grow. The company’s listing raised to 7.99 trillion rupiah, or $509.2 million.
Recent History of Tech Firm Listings in Southeast Asia
Blibli operates as an online marketplace that sells goods across various sectors, including household and lifestyle. The company is the latest tech firm to list in Southeast Asia since last year’s $1.5 billion share sale of Indonesian unicorn Bukalapak. More recently, Indonesian holding company GoTo also conducted a $1.1 billion initial public offering in April this year.
However, Bukalapak and GoTo are currently trading way below their listing prices. For instance, the former is 66% off its offer price, while the latter is changing hands 42% below its IPO price.
A number of other Southeast Asian e-commerce platforms are currently performing just as bleakly or even worse. For example, Singapore-based tech conglomerate Sea Limited has seen its share price crash to $48 from $340 a year ago. This plunge in value came amid operational uncertainty and countless losses for the company. Another prime example of a Southeast Asian tech multinational faltering recently is Grab Holdings Inc. The Singapore-based, multi-servicing tech company listed last December but is currently some way off its initial listing. Grab is currently trading at $2.94, far below its opening share price of $13.06 on December 2, 2021. Furthermore, it is also worth noting that the company dropped 20% on its US debut following a historic SPAC merger. However, at the time, Grab co-founder and chief executive officer Anthony Tan, stated:
“We don’t view growth and profitability as mutually exclusive. We operate in a market with a large market opportunity and low penetration across our verticals. We do believe we have a cost leadership advantage.”
Grab is the developer of the Grab Superapp, which provides users with services such as transportation, food delivery, and digital payment services.
Blibli
Founded in 2011, Blibli is owned by the Indonesian e-commerce group PT Global Digital Niaga. In addition to owning Blibli, PT Global Digital Niaga also runs an online travel business, as well as a chain of supermarkets.
The e-commerce business boomed during the Covid pandemic in 2020, and was also reportedly among the fastest-growing segments last year.