Patrick Grove plans to float $100 million e-commerce company iBuy

Nassim Khadem Reporter

Patrick Grove plans to float $100 million e-commerce company iBuy

Published 24 October 2013 11:44, Updated 24 October 2013 13:23

BRW Young Rich entrepreneur Patrick Grove is preparing to float his latest venture, e-commerce company iBuy, before the end of the year. Grove will list iBuy through broker Canaccord Genuity, a global investment bank focused on growth companies. The float of iBuy, a holding company of leading e-commerce sites selling branded consumer products at big discounts throughout south-east Asia, is expected to have a market capitalisation of $100 million.Grove, 38, who was valued on this year’s BRW Young Rich list at $95 million, on Thursday morning told BRW: “We have interests in a number of successful e-commerce companies in Asia and are always considering different strategic options and partners to bring them to the next level.”

Grove intends to invest $US150 million on online businesses in the region covered by the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) over the next five years.

True to his word, he’s been busy buying up Asian e-commerce businesses under his investment holding company, Catcha Group. The company that Grove co-founded with his friend and now business partner, Luke Elliott, has a portfolio of online assets worth more than $US300 million.

Some of these are ASX-listed companies, including ASEAN’s leading network of automotive portals, iCar Asia, and Asia’s No. 1 property classifieds website, iProperty Group.

With iBuy, Grove may be able to mimic in Asia, the local success that brothers Hezi and Gabby Leibovich have had with their leading Australian online group buying site CatchoftheDay.

Grove’s investment strategy is based on looking at online businesses that work in the West and taking them to the East.

Catcha Group’s online and property classifieds sites are rapidly growing. Based in Kuala Lumpur, iCar Asia is the largest network of online automotive sites in the ASEAN region, reaching 2.5 million people every month across Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

The company listed on the Australian stock exchange in September 2012 at 20¢ a share.

In March, the No. 1 Australian car classified site, Carsales, took a 19.9 per cent stake in iCar Asia. That’s helped iCar Asia’s share price hit the 95¢ mark.

iProperty Group owns and operates Asia’s No. 1 network of property websites. It’s also based in Kuala Lumpur, with 18 property websites around the ASEAN region.

Grove is also expanding into the Middle East e-commerce market.

In June, Grove told BRW he signed a deal to become one of the largest shareholders in propertyfinder.ae, the United Arab Emirates’ leading real estate website, which was formerly owned by Australia’s REA Group.

The portal, which is available in Arabic and English, services the region’s wealthy real estate developers and brokers.

Grove, an Australian who spends his time in Singapore and Malaysia, says he won’t rest unless he is the undisputed leader in all the e-commerce markets he’s targeting.

“One of things we realised about the classifieds model is, it’s a great model, but only if you’re No. 1,” he told BRW in an interview this year.