Patrick Grove, CEO of Catcha Group, stands for {a photograph} on the firm’s workplace in Kuala Lumpur, … [+]
Charles Pertwee/Bloomberg
Malaysia-based used automotive platform Carsome Group mentioned Tuesday it has partnered with Catcha Group—managed by tycoon Patrick Grove—to take Australian-listed rival iCar Asia non-public in a deal valued at $200 million.
Below the proposed deal, Carsome will purchase 19.9% of iCar Asia from Catcha in a share swap that can make Catcha a shareholder of Carsome. The duo will then purchase the remaining 80.1% in iCar Asia.
The transaction comes as Carsome is reportedly planning to listing within the U.S. at a $2 billion valuation, both by means of a backdoor itemizing with a particular function acquisition firm or through a traditional preliminary public providing.
“This is step one towards consolidation to type the biggest digital automotive group when it comes to income, consumer base, largest stay listings, and the most effective end-to-end success functionality within the area,” Eric Cheng, cofounder and group CEO of Carsome, mentioned in a press release.
The mixed entity is concentrating on revenues of $1 billion this 12 months throughout the used-car shopping for and promoting on-line platforms in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. The transaction additionally cements Carsome’s place as Southeast Asia’s Most worthy digital automotive market and Malaysia’s first tech unicorn, the corporate mentioned.
“We’re excited to affix Carsome as shareholders and work with Eric and his staff to broaden our management place and look ahead to serving to the mixed enterprise dominate the $55 billion digital automotive area in Southeast Asia within the years forward,” Grove, founder and group CEO of Catcha, mentioned.
Grove, 46, has pursuits in digital companies by means of privately held Catcha Group and Australia-listed Frontier Digital Ventures. In Could 2020, he bought on-demand video service Iflix for $50 million to Chinese language tech big Tencent. With a internet value of $365 million, Grove was ranked No. 45 on the Malaysia Wealthy Checklist that was revealed final month.
