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about Asia Buzz
Asia Buzz: Into the Fire
These
are heady days at Techpacific.com
By
ERIC ELLIS
April 6, 2000
Web posted at 1:00 p.m. Hong Kong time, 1:00 a.m. EST
Another day, another Internet listing in Hong Kong, though this time
it's into a stock market rather more hostile for Internet companies
than it was a month ago, or perhaps even a day ago. Eyeing Hong Kong's
Growth Enterprise Market as its first stop before the NASDAQ in New
York is the SAR-based start-up incubator Techpacific.com. But that's
assuming the $60 million float actually goes through in its current
form, and in this volatile market there's no guarantee of that.
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- Monday,
April 3, 2000
Culture
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Get connected, or miss out. It's that simple
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April 1, 2000
Letter
from Japan: Economic Binge
It's cherry blossom time, just watch your step
- Friday,
March 31, 2000
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This week, as the NASDAQ tanked in the U.S., a handful of imminent
listings pulled out, or delayed their debut until things settled down.
Even at this week's road show in Hong Kong, the admirably frank word
from Techpacific.com's backers was that the float might be pared if
prices in the tech-sector continue to tumble. That could rob the Hong
Kong market of one of the more colorful Net companies around and--in
a small and mostly unimpressive field--probably its most extensive
listed Net play.
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An
eclectic union of money men with a brace of young Internet start-ups
of varying quality under its umbrella, Techpacific.com is barely a
year old and is very much a work in progress. It's an Asian take on
the legendary U.S. Net guru Guy Kawasaki's Garage.com incubator, and
professes to be in the local Internet space for the long haul despite
the abbreviated escrow waiver a la Tom.com its principals have secured
from listing authorities.
The regional Net certainly needs financiers and hand-holders like
Techpacific.com, and if it proves to be even half as successful as
Garage.com, it will be a strong performer. "Tell us your idea. We
promise not to laugh" is its slogan, as seen on buses and trams around
Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government for one is a believer; it appointed
a Techpacific.com-Softbank joint venture to manage its $40 million
high-tech fund.
In a year, Techpacific.com has assembled a cast of financial engineers
well-known among the tight-knit Hong Kong banking and investing world,
led by principals Johnny Chan and Ilyas Khan, both ex-investment bankers
with long experience in floating companies. While at investment bank
Bear Stearns, Chan was involved in launching the China Telecom float
and Asia's first two NASDAQ Internet plays, Singapore ISP Pacific
Internet and Hong Kong's China.com. Khan also notched his share of
new issues during the 90s while at UBS and Nomura.
Older hands will recall Techpacific.com's "gray suit," chairman Robert
Owen, a Briton best known in Hong Kong for heading the watchdog Securities
and Futures Commission in the aftermath of the 1987 stock market debacle,
when exchange chairman Ronald Li stopped all trading during a market
slide. That stint would have put him in contact with another Techpacific.com
shareholder, Francis Yuen, an ex-investment banker headhunted as CEO
of the post-Li exchange before his current post as deputy chair of
Richard Li's flyer, Pacific Century CyberWorks.
And the float is being handled by BNP's Francis Leung, a name better
remembered as Philip Tose's partner at the ill-fated Peregrine Investments
but now carving a new career floating local Net plays with the same
vigor as he did mainland red chips. Jim Mellon's re-cast fund manager
Regent Pacific, or Interman as it now wants to be known, has some
anchor money in there as well, as do the Kuwaiti authorities. So that's
Techpacific's reinvented Old Economy team.
Who's there from the New Economy? The standard-bearers there are Dell
Computer, Softbank, Silicon Valley's go-go VC outfit Draper Fisher
Jurvetson and two young faces well-known to Asian Netizens; David
Kim and Jon Hakim. Net insiders know the energetic 27-year-old Kim
from his stint about 18 months ago touting the Lycos.com brand around
the region, specifically Korea and Japan, for the Waltham-based portal
about 18 months ago.
Kim later popped up at China.com as Chief Financial Officer. That
gig didn't last long, however, as Softbank's Masayoshi Son hired Kim
last November with a brief to roll out Softbank's Net start-ups across
Asia. Softbank's shares were then roaring, testing 200,000 yen ($1,900)
and with broking analysis that said it would soar higher still. But
Softbank has taken a huge hit, even before this latest round of NASDAQ
carnage. Son's company closed yesterday at 76,500 yen ($730), and
may be heading further southward. Kim is keeping his Softbank links
while moving over to a fuller role at Techpacific.com.
The other regional Net name to suddenly appear at Techpacific.com
is that of Jon Hakim, who just two weeks ago was touting online stockbroker
Boom.com. Not any more. Boom is mired in new funding negotiations,
and Hakim, who helps organize the IandI regional networking group,
has suddenly split the company he helped found to sign on for millions
of Techpacific.com options. Timing is everything and many in this
cast have made careers out of getting it right. These are heady days
at Techpacific.com, and you can be sure that before April 17--the
scheduled debut date-- there will be more than a few anxious glances
at how the NASDAQ is holding up.
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