Tokopedia, Gojek Said To Ink Merger Deal Worth As Much As $40 Billion

Gojek and Tokopedia — which have been moving toward a merger — have reportedly inked a conditional sales agreement for a merger.

Gojek shareholders would hold a 60 percent stake in the merged company, while Tokopedia stockholders would own the remainder, Tech in Asia reported. The news outlet attributed the information to D-Insights.

The merged company could be valued between $35 billion to $40 billion. The news report added that the plan is to list its shares on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).

However, Nuraini Razak, Tokopedia’s vice president of corporate communications, said that “the news is inaccurate and purely speculative. If there is any corporate action, we will inform the media accordingly.”

News reports on merger talks have been building all year. In early January, reports said the merger of ride-hailing and payments platform Gojek and eCommerce firm Tokopedia would be valued at $18 billion.

Indonesia’s Gojek is seeking to expand its ridesharing and digital payments business throughout Southeast Asia and beyond.

“One of our primary focuses for 2021 is really to expand our footprint outside of Indonesia,” Gojek Co-CEO Kevin Aluwi told CNBC in an interview.

“Over the last few years, we’ve definitely invested relatively smaller amounts in our markets outside of Indonesia. But, we think this is the year where we really want to spread our wings and be a regional and global business,” Aluwi added.

Founded in 2010, Gojek began as a ride-hailing business but has since branched out into food delivery and digital payments. The company now operates in five nations and 200 cities throughout Southeast Asia.

By last month (Feb. 10), the two were reportedly looking at whether to have a traditional initial public offering (IPO) or instead use a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Such a “blank-check” company is created with a pool of money that is then used to buy a company or companies.