Melbourne, Wednesday, 2 April 2014 – iBuy Group Limited (iBuy) today announced that it will acquire the South East Asia flash sales businesses of Living Social Inc (LS SEA Business), providing it entry into leading positions in the Thailand, Philippines and Indonesian markets (Acquisition). iBuy will also be undertaking a fully underwritten 5 for 27 pro rata accelerated renounceable entitlement offer (with retail entitlements trading) (Entitlement Offer) of new iBuy ordinary shares (New Shares) to raise gross proceeds of approximately $30 million at a price of $0.45 per New Share (Offer Price). The purchase price for the acquisition will be US$18.5 million, payable in cash. The LS SEA Business is comprised of leading flash sales websites operated under the Ensogo.com brand in Thailand and the Philippines, and under the LivingSocial brand in Malaysia and Indonesia. The combined operations have over 4.1m subscribers, had gross turnover1 of approximately A$55 million in 2013 and address a combined population in excess of 450 million people in their markets. iBuy will use the proceeds from the Entitlement Offer principally to satisfy the purchase price. iBuy will also use proceeds to integrate, develop and grow the businesses acquired and pay for the costs of the Acquisition and Entitlement Offer. iBuy’s acquisition of the LS SEA Business is expected to provide iBuy with significantly increased market share in its target markets, along with leading positions in new, high growth markets in the region. iBuy also expects to have access to a significant number of new suppliers, and to be able to generate potential synergies through leveraging its existing expertise, supply chain, product sourcing, distribution and technological capabilities across the acquired businesses. iBuy Chairman Patrick Grove said: “We are extremely excited by the acquisition of the LS SEA Business. Not only does this allow us to further consolidate market share in Malaysia, more significantly we will now enter Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines with excellent positions via well-established businesses. This provides iBuy with a broad, powerful geographic footprint and access to a tremendous market opportunity as e- Commerce grows throughout the South East Asian region.” iBuy CEO Patrick Linden said: “In the short time since our IPO in December of 2013, the team has made tremendous progress. This acquisition provides us an even greater possibility of realising the ambitious growth plans and vision we have of becoming Asia’s leading e-Commerce company specialising in flash sales. We cannot wait to bring our capabilities and expertise to bear in driving the acquired businesses, and iBuy at large, forward in these exciting, high growth markets.”
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