Indonesia’s Traveloka CEO Plans U.S. Listing Via SPAC in 2021

Fathiya Dahrul, Haslinda Amin and Rishaad Salamat, Bloomberg News

BALI, INDONESIA - JANUARY 28 : A worker walks in the middle of coloured beanbags and Balinese umbrellas at a cafe on January 28, 2021 in Double Six beach, Bali, Indonesia. In Bali, famed among tourists for its beaches and sunsets, the northwest monsoon brings a different kind of arrival - vast amounts of plastic waste. From December to March, so much trash washes up on the beaches that the local government struggles to keep up and clean up. Locals and workers have together been collecting 80 tonnes of waste a day as it washes ashore at world-famous beaches from Seminyak to Kuta, the local government said. Almost 75 percent of it is plastic, according to a study by the Center of Remote Sensing and Ocean Sciences at Bali's Udayana University. In the absence of tourism due to Covid-19, the trash problem has become obvious on beaches almost entirely devoid of visitors. Indonesia is part of the U.N.'s Clean Seas campaign, which aims to halt the tide of plastic trash polluting the oceans. As part of its commitment, the government has vowed to reduce marine plastic waste by 70 percent by 2025. (Photo by Agung Parameswara/Getty Images) Photographer: Agung Parameswara/Getty Images AsiaPac , Photographer: Agung Parameswara/Getty Images AsiaPac

(Bloomberg) -- Traveloka, Southeast Asia’s biggest online travel startup, is planning to list in the U.S. this year to raise funds using a special purpose acquistion company, known as SPAC, according to Chief Executive Offer Ferry Unardi.

“SPAC is very efficient in terms of timing and for a growing company like us,” Unardi told Haslinda Amin and Rishaad Salamat in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Tuesday. The company may consider an Indonesian listing at a later stage, he said.

Traveloka is said to hire JPMorgan Chase & Co. for public listing in the U.S. A listing could see it take advantage of a boom in the IPO market, which has been boosted by SPAC that use funds raised from their IPOs to buy a private company that then takes over the listing.

Investors including Expedia Group Inc., Rocket Internet SE, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte, and JD.com has helped boost Traveloka’s valuation over the years. It was valued at $3 billion in 2017, according to CB Insights.

Based in Jakarta since it was founded in 2012, Traveloka has expanded across Southeast Asia, making it easier for consumers to book flights and hotels across countries. Like its competitors, the company has since moved beyond its roots to offer a vast array of services including lifestyle and even financial services.

With the impact of the pandemic pummeling the travel industry worldwide, Traveloka was said to be close to raising funds last July at a lower valuation than its previous funding rounds. It has also cut an unspecified number of roles since the start of the outbreak, including about 80 jobs in Singapore last April.

Unardi said that Traveloka’s travel business is already back in profit amid looser restrictions.