Sesami.com in merger deal
Sesami.com, a unit of Singapore Telecommunications, and Asia2B.com, an internet business-to-business service backed by some of the largest companies in Hong Kong, teamed up yesterday in what they called the largest Asian e-commerce deal to date.
The merged group, which will be owned equally by shareholders of Sesami.com and Asia2B, will be named Sesami and have initial capitalisation of US$72m.
The two groups had combined revenue of US$7m in 2000. Together, they have 120 employees and monthly transaction volume of US$320m from some 1300 customers.
SingTel, majority owner of Sesami.com, will have about 44.5 per cent of the combined group equity and Lee Hsien Yang, SingTel chief executive, will be its chairman. The combined group will focus on providing services to seven industries: chemicals, construction, electronics, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, retailing and food, telecoms and transportation.
Market watchers said the merger may be the beginning of a wave of consolidation in the Asian B2B industry as the regions brief dotcom boom has turned sour.
