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T Express Transindo Utama, a subsidiary of Rajawali Corpora, will sell 48.9 percent of its
enlarged shares to the public at a price range between Rp 440 and Rp 880 a piece.

Express president director Daniel Podiman stated that the company would release 1.051 billion new shares during an offering period scheduled to take place on Oct. 25, 29 and 30.

Daniel said 63 percent of proceeds raised from the initial public offering (IPO) would be used to finance the expansion of the company’s flagship taxi brand, Express Taxi.

Express Taxi currently operates 6,396 regular taxis that serve passengers in Jakarta, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Jadetabek), in addition to those in Surabaya, Semarang and Medan.

The company aims to operate at least 8,000 regular taxis by the year’s end.

“We would like to increase the number of regular taxis we operate by approximately 2,000 per year,” Daniel said, adding that around 90 percent of the company’s revenues flowed from these regular taxis.

Express also owns 65 premium taxis under the brand Tiara Express. The premium taxi fleet consists of luxury multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) with car brands such as Alphard and Mercedes Benz.

“We will develop our products, such as limousines, premium taxis and buses-for-rent, based on the measured market demand,” Daniel added.

David Santoso, the chief finance officer of the company, said that the company would expand its fleet through, among other things, acquiring a company. “We will conduct acquisitions by utilizing 16 percent of the funds generated in this IPO,” he said.

According to a prospectus, Express looks to acquire a 100 percent stake in PT Ekspres Mulia Kencana (EMK), a subsidiary of PT Ekspres Transportasi Antarbenua (ETA), a company offering VIP charter flight services and acting as an aircraft management operator based in Jakarta.

He added that the company would utilize 20 percent of funds collected through the offering to pay off debts.

David further said that the company looked toward expansions to “become a front-running transportation company”.

The current market leader is Blue Bird Group, which operates about 23,000 taxis in the greater Jakarta area alone. The two have been planning to conduct an IPO. They sounded off plans to conduct the offering in 2011, but have yet to execute those plans.

“Within the next three years, we seek to become the number one taxi operator in the Jakarta, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi area,” David said, adding that they sought to own a 30-35 percent share of the national taxi operator market.

He added that the company expected to see a two-fold increase in profits by the end of 2013, when compared to the yet-to-be-finalized year end figures of 2012, through these expansions.

“As of April, our audited net profits approximately stood at Rp. 28.4 billion, while our revenues amounted to Rp 155.5 billion,” he noted.

Meanwhile, net profits by the end of 2011 reached Rp 60.2 billion, while revenues touched Rp 338.4 billion, he said.

“Our target is to increase revenue by 53.25 percent by 2013,” he further added.

Express’ parent company, Rajawali Corpora, is an industrial conglomerate with business units in the telecommunication, hotel, consumer goods, retail, department store and transportation business.

The corporation has formed strategic partnerships with hotel chains Sheraton and Novotel,
retail chain Metro, as well as telecommunication players Verizon and Mitsui.

Rajawali was founded in 1984 by business tycoon Peter Sondakh, Indonesia’s sixth-richest man, with assets valued at least $2.6 billion, according to the latest Forbes rich list.