SoftBank places $120M bet on Indonesia’s Trikomsel on eve of major ecommerce launch

The Indonesian ecommerce joint venture between postal service SingPost and mobile device retailer Trikomsel will go live some time in May, according to Trikomsel president and CEO Sugiono Wiyono. Previously a somewhat mysterious project, we now know the ecommerce firm will start with dealing in smartphones, clothing, and sports gear. The company will not be an ecommerce firm in the traditional sense, but rather an ecommerce services business with offerings similar to those of aCommerce and Vela Asia.

(Update 4/10/15: The above paragraph has been updated to show that the joint venture will provide ecommerce services instead of operating as an ecommerce business itself.)

Following a move by Lippo Group’s MatahariMall to offer online-to-offline service in which customers can order online, then pay and pick up goods at a physical store, Trikomsel will leverage its own nationwide network of nearly 1,000 brick-and-mortar shops in the same way.

SingPost and Trikomsel are both publicly traded companies. SingPost, through its subsidiary SP eCommerce, will take a 33 percent stake for US$1.1 million. Trikomsel will have the remaining 67 percent stake.

See: This is MatahariMall’s gameplan to beat Rocket Internet

SoftBank throws its hat into the ring

According to a March press release from the Indonesian Stock Exchange, SoftBank Group has indirectly purchased 19.9 percent of Trikomsel’s shares.

DealStreetAsia reports that the Japanese mobile giant snatched up the shares through subsidiaries Chateau Montague, Red Enterprise Holdings, and Sommerset Palace Holdings.

Indonesia’s Trikomsel is an associate company of Singapore-listed Polaris, a firm also run by Wiyono. For now, Polaris continues to remain the largest stakeholder in Trikomsel and will own 45 percent of the shares in the company that is one of the largest mobile device retailers and distributors in the archipelago. Trikomsel had a market capitalization of Rp 7.38 trillion (US$568 million) as of March 2015, and total sales of Rp 10.78 trillion (US$831 million) as of December 2014. Based on the recent stock price, SoftBank’s stake in Trikomsel is valued at around US$120 million.

According to DealStreetAsia, Wiyono says the deal will result in strong momentum for Trikomsel to further expand its business, riding on experience, network, resources, and technology held by SoftBank. He added that the partnership would bring great benefits to Trikomsel and it regional group in Southeast Asia.

SoftBank may very well be hedging its ecommerce bets in Indonesia, as it and Sequoia Capital invested US$100 million into local consumer-to-consumer marketplace Tokopedia last October.