Update: Blue Bird Group's IPO Expected in Fourth Quarter 2013
Indonesia's biggest taxi operator, the Blue Bird Group, is planning to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) in the fourth quarter of this year. The company expects to reap between USD $600 and $800 by selling 20 to 40 percent of the company's stock equity. If the company will indeed manage to meet this target, then the IPO of Blue Bird will be the largest since the publicly listing of Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur, which raised USD $696 million in October 2010. It has been reported that Credit Suisse, Rothschild and UBS will act as underwriters.
Blue Bird is clear market leader within Indonesia's taxi services market, in which dozens of private companies participate. To date, only one Indonesian taxi company has gone public on the Indonesia Stock Exchange - Express Transindo Utama -, which is Blue Bird's main competitor for market leadership. Of all Indonesian taxi companies, Blue Bird is known to be most reliable and therefore is usually the preferred choice for both Indonesians and foreigners when needing transport by taxi. Knowing that the IPO of Express Transindo was successful and seeing its share price rise by 154 percent since its first trading day in November 2012, it is expected that the listing of Blue Bird will be equally popular.
Despite the fact that a lack of public investments in Indonesia's infrastructure has caused chaotic conditions (traffic congestions) in some parts of the bigger Indonesian cities, Indonesia's taxi sector offers plenty of growth opportunities. The country contains a large population (240 million) that is becoming increasingly urbanized (more than half of the population currently lives in urban areas). Moreover, Indonesia shows strong macroeconomic growth, which gives rise to an expanding middle class (as GDP per capita is rising). Lastly, a lack of investments in public transportation makes taxis a more attractive alternative.
Blue Bird will use funds from the IPO for expansion and rejuvenation of its taxi fleet. The company also wants to start operations in various cities on Sumatra such as Pekanbaru, Padang, Palembang and Medan.
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