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To: Jenne who wrote (44272)	3/7/1999 11:16:00 AM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

After U.S. boom, Asia looks to Internet IPOs By Alicia Seow SINGAPORE, March 7 (Reuters) - Inspired by lofty prices of U.S. Internet stocks, "dot-com fever" is spreading in Asia, with Internet-related companies eyeing stock listings after Singapore firm Pacific Internet's <PCNTF.O> successful debut on Nasdaq. "Basically, everyone has been bitten by this bug," Ramin Marzbani, principal of Sydney-based Internet research and consulting group www.consult, told Reuters. "We are going to see a lot more IPOs (initial public offerings) coming on board." Hanson Cheah, executive director of Hong Kong-based venture capitalist firm AsiaTech Venture, said many Asian companies that want to go public were carefully watching Nasdaq. The U.S. technology-laden trading system is home to some of the best-known Internet stocks, such as Yahoo! <YHOO.O>, Amazon.com <AMZN.O> and Netscape Communications Corp <NSCP.O>. "Nasdaq is where all the money is right now," Cheah said. Marzbani said, "There will be a lot of deals sort of around the S$20-50 million ($11.6-28.9 million) valuations coming up in the next six months." Asked what kind of stocks these were, he said: "Any and all. It does not matter. Anything with dot-com. Seriously." Pacific Internet, an Internet service provider, surged as high as US$88 on February 5 when it listed, compared with the IPO price of $17. On Friday, the stock closed at $30.375 and some analysts consider it overvalued. (See table below) China's SINA and Internet Technologies China (ITC), which own popular Chinese-language portals, are believed to be keen on listing their shares in the United States. A SINA company spokeswoman told Reuters it planned to apply for a listing in the United States before the end of this year. When asked about listing plans, ITC's chief executive officer Charles Zhang said, "We need another year of growth and are looking at the year 2000 or even after" for an IPO which may be spread between Nasdaq and the new technology bourse in Hong Kong. Some industry experts say Internet stock investors are less interested in earnings, the traditional valuation guide, than with good business models backed by market share, page views and unique visitors. "Profitability is not as important as management capability," Marzbani said, adding "most of the Asian companies are extremely weak in managing capabilities." Technology research firm International Data Corp estimated there were 12.2 million Internet users at the end of 1998 in Asia, excluding Japan, and said it expected the number to increase to 35.3 million by the end of 2002. AsiaTech, which invests in Asian high technology companies, said the first batch of Internet stocks typified by Pacific Internet were focused on providing basic services more than cutting-edge technology. "The first batch of companies... What they are doing -- portals, aggregation of content -- I do not think is fundamentally solid yet," Cheah said. He said Chinese companies SINA and ITC both fell into the same category as Pacific Internet. Asia may see a second wave of stronger stock offerings from technology-driven companies, he said. "The second batch is coming up. Except the second batch will take a longer time...for the simple reason that it takes a longer time to produce the technology," Cheah said. "I see AMO (Asia Manufacturing Online) as a second batch where they have a technology and a very clear business model," he said. Singapore-based Asia Manufacturing Online, which recently changed its name to Advanced Manufacturing Online, is an electronic commerce firm which links suppliers with manufacturers. Both AsiaTech and British venture capital and investment firm 3i Group <III.L> invested in the business-to-business network provider which plans to list on Nasdaq in the next year or two. Internet-related stocks in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan: ...