INDONESIA’S biggest tech firm soared in early Jakarta trade today following an initial public offering that closed last week.

GoTo, the largest digital ecosystem in the archipelago nation of 270 million people, was formed by the merger of ride-hailing company Gojek and e-commerce platform Tokopedia in May last year.

Its shares were up 17% at 396 rupiah (RM0.12) at 9.10am.

The Jakarta-based company raised about US$1.1 billion (RM4.6 billion) in its IPO, priced at 338 rupiah per share, representing a market value of about US$28 billion, it announced today.

It has sold shares for US$954.7 million plus US$146.3 million from treasury shares for the purpose of over-allotment.

Based on the total funds raised, GoTo’s IPO is the third-largest in Asia and fifth-largest in the world this year, it said.

“Despite global market volatility, investor interest has been strong, reflecting the rapidly growing demand in Southeast Asia for our on-demand, e-commerce and financial technology services, as well as confidence in GoTo’s position as the largest digital ecosystem in Indonesia,” group chief executive officer Andre Soelistyo said in a press release.

The company announced last week it would distribute shares worth 310 billion rupiah to hundreds of thousands of its drivers.

GoTo, whose main competitors in the region are Southeast Asia and Grab, has said previously that it was also planning a US listing.

In November it said it had raised some US$1.3 billion from various investors including Google, Singapore’s Temasek and China’s Tencent.

Last year, another Indonesian unicorn Bukalapak launched the biggest initial offering in the history of the country’s stock market, raising more than US$1.5 billion.

However, shares in the online marketplace have since dropped by around 60%, instilling doubts in the Southeast Asian tech sector. – AFP, April 11, 2022.