Hört sich doch ganz gut an, oder? Schade nur, daß nicht in jedem Satz mindestens 2 Mal CHINA steht, dann hätte es doch was mit 10000% werden können.
Thursday November 18, 8:30 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Pacific Internet Forms Dot.com Division in Ambitious Move to Become Asia's E-business Enterprise
Division Aims for Nasdaq IPO in 12 to 24 Months
SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 18, 1999-- Leading Internet service provider Pacific Internet today announced that it has formed Pacfusion.com, a new business division that will focus exclusively on e-business. The ISP aims to spin off Pacfusion.com into the region's dominant e-business enterprise in the next 18-24 months, leveraging on its large regional subscriber base, close customer relationship and local market knowledge.
In October, Pacific Internet announced that it was going to invest up to US$50 million in the next two years in e-commerce, content and community services, as it makes the transition from being a pure-play ISP into a broad-based Internet business enterprise.
Asia's First ``Fusion'' Portal
``Pacfusion.com will be the `AOL-plus' of the region,'' said Pacific Internet's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Nicholas Lee. The company will be launching shortly Asia's first ``fusion'' portal, which will feature the integration of Internet access, online search capability and web-based services consisting of the `4Cs': Commerce, Content, Community and Communications including Internet telephony, broadband and cellular Internet access as these become available in the region. Said Mr. Larry Ang, Pacific Internet's Group General Manager (e-Business), ``Pacfusion.com will offer a total Internet experience like no other. And it will be a truly Asian portal created for Asian eyeballs.''
Pacific Internet Eyes India and China
For Pacfusion.com, the huge India and China markets in particular offer tremendous potential for capturing new eyeballs. Pacific Internet India already holds an ``All India'' ISP licence and following China's induction this week into the World Trade Organization (WTO), Pacific Internet is going back into the country with renewed zeal to find joint venture partners to offer Internet access and e-commerce services there. Said CEO Mr. Lee, ``We have been doing due diligence on several companies even before the WTO breakthrough.''
Development Strategy
To achieve its business objectives, Pacfusion.com intends to set up subsidiaries in its twelve vertical market segments: ``News'', ``Leisure'', ``Travel'', ``Homes'', ``Lifestyle'', ``Convenience'', ``Education'', ``Content'', ``Shipping'', ``Good Deals'', ``Money'', and ``Jobs''. It plans to form these independent business units through a combination of strategic partnerships, joint ventures and acquisitions. ``Our objective is to capture dominant market share in each of these business segments within the next 2 years,'' stated Mr. Ang.
Initial Valuation Of US$200 Million
In October 1999 Pacific Internet's Board of Directors authorized an expenditure of up to US$54 million for Pacfusion.com. Pacific Internet plans to also inject infrastructure, applications development and all of its portal business including its lucrative homepage together valued at approximately US$50 million, into Pacfusion.com. It is looking to strategic partners and venture capital funds to contribute an additional US$100 million to value Pacfusion.com above US$200 million.
IPO Plans - A second NASDAQ listing
Pacific Internet aims to list Pacfusion.com in the next 12 to 24 months on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Given the hot interest in e-commerce companies, the company expects Pacfusion.com to attain a valuation of between US$1 billion to US$2 billion from its initial public offering. Pacfusion.com is also expected to list most of its twelve subsidiaries in the near future.
Venture Capital Fund
Mr. Lee also revealed that Pacfusion.com aims to set up a venture capital fund and to open a U.S. office in San Jose in the Silicon Valley, by the first quarter of 2000. The objective of the U.S. office will be to bring promising U.S. Internet companies to Asia, leveraging on the multi-country presence of Pacific Internet. The venture capital fund will also be used to invest in U.S. Internet start up companies that have the potential of doing business in Asia.
Elaborating on Pacific Internet's strategy, Mr. Lee said, ``We already have operations in Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Australia and India, and several more countries will be added to the list next year. We are the only company that has a truly pan-Asian presence, serving such a broad spectrum of regional customers. Our regional scope, world-class infrastructure and execution capability will give our potential U.S. and European partners the ability to roll out their products and services across the region in one fell swoop.''
Premier Syndication Platform
In addition, Pacfusion.com will partner with Pacific Internet to form a premier syndication platform for U.S. and European partners that are interested in offering their content in the Asia-Pacific. ``With our distribution capabilities, we are well positioned to help them distribute their content to other service providers.''
To develop its content pool, Pacfusion.com will take the unprecedented step of providing free broadband-enabled server co-location services for quality content providers and internationally renowned newspapers and magazines.
Said Mr. Ang, ``Because of our existing high speed satellite network, we expect to make this broadband content free and easily available to our partners in countries that are covered by our satellite footprint. This already includes China and will shortly also cover India.'' Pacific Internet currently has 67 Mbps of Satellite bandwidth over 2 satellite systems in addition to its terrestrial connections.
Strong Execution Capability
Pacific Internet will be banking on its proven execution capability to deliver on its e-business strategy. ``We have consistently demonstrated that we can deliver. We now have more than 700 internet professionals in the region and one of the most stable management teams in the industry,'' commented Mr. Lee.
Existing Web Properties
Pacific Internet already owns and manages several sizable online properties including:
- PI Mall (online shopping mall)
- ClassAds (online classifieds)
- Movies Online (online movie and cinema guide)
- Happenings (online arts and entertainment calendar)
- HeriZon (online women's magazine)
- Aunt Webby (online counseling)
- LaughTrack (online humour)
- Big Wok (online food guide)
- Netchat (online chat forums)
About Pacific Internet
Pacific Internet Limited (NASDAQ: PCNTF - news) is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The Company offers Internet access, web hosting, web design, web consulting, Internet systems integration and e-commerce services in Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Australia. Readers of ComputerWorld magazine voted Pacific Internet ``Best Internet Service Provider'' in Singapore in 1997, 1998 and 1999. In 1999, readers of Telecom Asia magazine voted Pacific Internet ``Best Internet Service Provider'' in the Asia-Pacific region.