Hi Kemble! Another investment for Dell! :)Leigh
smartmoney.com
Asia Online Secures US$100 Million in New Funding
March 30, 2000 6:17 AM
WALNUT CREEK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 30, 2000--Asia Online Ltd., a pan-Asia Pacific Internet business solutions provider, with its North America headquarters based here, has raised US$100 million of new capital from institutional and strategic investors, including Dell Computer and PaineWebber.
The new investment will be used to fund further regional expansion, increase the company's intellectual capital, develop new products, integrate the product offerings of others and create intellectual property to lead the application service provider market in Asia Pacific.
The new investors are led by Paribas Affaires Industrielles (PAI) with participation from ABN Amro Capital Investment Asia Ltd.; Dell Computer; CIBC, Hikari Tsushin; MF Private Capital; PaineWebber; and Systex Capital Group, Inc. They join existing investors Concentric Network Corporation (Nasdaq:CNCX), GE Equity Asia-Pacific, Interliant Inc. (Nasdaq:INIT), JP Morgan International Capital Corp, Nexus Group, Pequot Capital Management and SOFTBANK Venture Capital in contributing new capital.
According to asia.internet.com, a weekly venture capital newsletter, this investment represents the largest known single-round funding of a private Internet venture in Asia to date.
"We are very pleased with the new investors who have joined us to participate in the success of Asia Online. We have gained powerful allies in Europe, reinforced our Japanese affiliations, taken on a strategic partner in Taiwan, further expanded our relationships with technically-savvy American and Canadian investors, and garnered support from Dell, one the world's most dynamic computer companies," said Bradley Feld, managing director of SOFTBANK Venture Capital.
"Together with the strengths of our existing shareholders, I believe that Asia Online's broad base of investor support represents a formidable consortium focused on developing Internet business solutions for the Asia Pacific marketplace," said Feld.
"This display of confidence in our business strategy and ability to execute is especially gratifying," said Kevin Randolph, president and chief executive officer of Asia Online Ltd. "Our investors are experienced professionals who understand our business and our opportunities. They have the connections to help us achieve our goals, and we in turn have shown them that we can deliver."
Previous rounds led by SOFTBANK Venture Capital and JP Morgan have provided more than US$40MM in financing. Asia Online completed its first acquisition in Hong Kong in Feb. 1999. The company has expanded rapidly through a series of strategic business acquisitions in Australia, Malaysia and New Zealand, with additional acquisitions in Hong Kong, and most recently, by opening an office in India. It now has offices in 14 cities in seven countries.
According to Randolph, Asia Online will be making a major push into North Asia and negotiations are underway with prospective acquisition targets and joint venture opportunities in China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. The company plans also to look at new business opportunities in India and Singapore as well as at further strengthening its operations in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand.
Asia Online plans to have a branded presence in all Asia Pacific markets, capable of delivering a consistently high level of service to the region's millions of small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs).
"Asia Online puts the power of the Internet to work, growing our customers' business. Whether generating new revenue streams or improving productivity leading to savings, we assemble the right mix of tools to help our customers gain strategic advantage," said Randolph. "We see the SME sector as a natural market focus for our Internet-based business applications services."
Asia Online, Ltd. is the holding company for Asia Online operations in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia, India, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Asia Online currently offers a variety of Internet-related services including dial-up, leased lines, ISDN, roaming, web design & hosting, co-location, unified messaging, portal management, advertising and e-commerce.
Through partnerships with leading US Internet companies and internal development, Asia Online plans to offer Internet-based communications products to both international and domestic customers. These will include audio conferencing, video conferencing, voice-over-IP, and digital signatures, to mention a few. Additional information about Asia Online is available at www.asiaonlineltd.com.
CONTACT: Asia Online
Diane McGrath, 516/759-8336 (Investor Relations)
diane@asiaonlineltd.com
or
Complete Communications
Judy Tarabini-McNulty, 925/855-9522 (President)
judy@completepr.com
06:00 EST MARCH 30, 20 |
