Aussie Online Ltd.
WKN : 869762
Kürzel: auol
ASX : aol
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2/16/00 - Moves Into Online Reality With Commerce Aust.
Acquisition
HOMEX - Perth
-------------------------
Moves into Online Reality with Commerce Aust.acquisition
PRESS RELEASE
Progressive online directory business Aussie Online Limited (ASX:
AOL) has taken another key growth step, today announcing plans to
expand into the lucrative online real estate directory market through
the proposed acquisition of Commerce Australia Pty Ltd - developer of
the popular real estate portal realtyonline.com.au.
The acquisition is part of Aussie`s commitment to grow its business
by adding new vertical portals alongside its existing aussie.com.au
site, with the aim of establishing a diverse but complementary suite
of linked portals - each providing opportunities to develop new
revenue streams, including innovative e-commerce developments.
The Perth-based Company today also announced a proposed additional
A$5 million placement to parties including high-profile European
investment company, Investa AG. The proposed placement, comprising 25
million shares at 20 cents a share, follows hard on the heels of a
previous A$2 million placement of 25 million shares at 8 cents - and
will bring the total amount raised to A$7 million.
Investa`s Managing Director, Mr Jurg Walker, has been appointed to
the Board of Aussie Online Limited further accelerating its growth
plans.
Under the agreement announced today, Aussie will acquire Commerce
Australia, including its software and technology, industry-specific
portals and its ISP (Internet Service Provider) business.
Consideration will be the issue of 40 million ordinary Aussie Online
shares to the company`s principals. At last Friday`s closing price
for Aussie shares of 26.5 cents, the transaction has a deemed value
of A$10.6 million.
Aussie Online`s Chairman, Mr Terry Strapp, said the acquisition of
Commerce Australia represented a significant opportunity to acquire a
complementary online business that would enhance its existing
national business directory, aussie.com.au.
"There are enormous synergies between the two businesses, as well as
opportunities to integrate our respective skills and technologies to
create a very exciting and dynamic Internet growth company," Mr
Strapp said. "Our long-term strategy is to leverage off the
aussie.com.au site and database to create a series of vertically
integrated portals, each with exciting possibilities to develop new
e-commerce revenue streams and creating a fully integrated c-commerce
hub."
Commerce Australia`s main growth focus is on its realtyonline.com.au
portal, which is targeted to become the most comprehensive real
estate site in Australia. Three additional portals, rentfind.com.au,
movingcentre.com.au and housemate.com.au - will integrate with
realtyonline.com.au to create a suite of full service sites to
capture the market.
Mr Strapp said realtyonline.com.au had been established to exploit a
unique market niche because it offered free listings on its site, in
contrast to competitors that charge up to A$150 per account each
month to simply list on the sites. The site`s point of difference is
that it offers agents listing on the site access to proprietary
Commerce Australia-owned Datahouse software that enables all sales
and listing data to be sent back to subscribing agents, ensuring
total data integrity.
Commerce Australia`s Chairman, Mr Michael Perrott, said the software
enabled agents to monitor and control all costs associated with each
listing. "The realtyonline.com.au site generates its revenue streams
by providing agents with value-added services such as online access
to this unique software, by setting up a customised home page for
each agent, or by creating innovative e-commerce solutions."
"Strategic alliances with banks, mortgage and insurance originators
and other service providers are currently being explored to encourage
greater site visitation and forms of transactions on the site," Mr
Perrott added.
The realtyonline.com.au is exclusively for Real Estate Agents
listings and also offers equivalent services to the other major
online real estate directories. Rentfind.com.au is being developed to
target the rental market, while movingcentre and housemate are
supporting portals. movingcentre will assist in the total moving
process through providing links to businesses covering all aspects of
moving house, including insurance, removalists, pest control and
maintenance companies. housemate is a free site which will provide a
bulletin board forum advertising rooms to rent or houses to share.
Both sites are scheduled to be online by the end of February 2000.
Mr Strapp said the concept of offering free listings on an online
directory and then leveraging this by adding value to the user would
generate revenue streams similar to Aussie Online`s strategy with the
aussie.com.au directory.
"Our point of difference is that we offer businesses the opportunity
to list comprehensive contact information free-of-charge and then
generate revenue by offering priority positioning and template-based
web sites," he said.
Since launching a major advertising campaign last month,
aussie.com.au has recorded a massive increase in hits and experienced
a large increase in the number of new businesses registering on the
site, which already catalogues more than 1.3 million Australian
businesses.
Aussie Online`s Managing Director, Mr Peter Youd, said the Company
was currently registering as many as 500 new businesses per day,
while the site was on target to register 1 million hits for February
based on current performance (up from 350,000 - 400,000 in recent
months). Our entry into the Perth market has been a tremendous
success and we are on target to expand into Sydney, Melbourne and
Brisbane this year.
"The acquisition of Commerce Australia provides opportunities to
utilise our existing sales and marketing infrastructure to raise the
profile of the realtyonline.com.au and other sites and integrate them
into our sales plan," Mr Youd said. "The additional opportunity that
Commerce Australia`s ISP and e-commerce capabilities add to our
business is significant in that it creates enormous potential to add
value to our existing aussie.com.au client base."
"A notice of meeting seeking approval of the placement and the
acquisition of Commerce Australia Pty Ltd will be issued to
shareholders and a prospectus lodged, shortly after which, with ASX
approval, it is anticipated the current trading halt will be lifted,"
said Mr Youd.
Released by: On behalf of:
Jan Hope / Nicholas Read Mr Terry Strapp / Mr Peter Youd
Jan Hope & Partners Chairman / Managing Director
Telephone: (08) 9388-1474 Aussie Online Limited
Telephone: (08) 9316-6100
Email: peter.youd@corp.aussie.com.au
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