Carsome to Acquire iCar Asia for $200 Million

Southeast Asia's Automotive Marketplace Competition Intensifies

The competition among online car marketplaces in Southeast Asia is rapidly escalating. Carsome Group, a leading platform for used car sales in the region, has announced its intention to acquire iCar Asia, a prominent listings platform, in a deal valued at over $200 million.

Acquisition Details

Carsome will initially acquire a 19.9% stake in iCar Asia from Catcha Group, a Malaysian internet conglomerate. As part of the agreement, Catcha Group will gain a shareholding in Carsome Group.

Furthermore, Carsome and Catcha Group have jointly proposed to iCar Asia’s board of directors a plan to purchase the remaining shares from existing shareholders.

Recent Funding and Expansion

This move follows Carro, a key competitor of Carsome, securing $360 million in Series C funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, achieving unicorn status.

Shortly after Carro’s funding announcement, reports surfaced indicating that Carsome was in discussions to raise over $200 million in a pre-IPO funding round.

While Carsome has not officially confirmed the funding, the company has been actively pursuing expansion strategies. This includes a strategic investment in PT Universal, an Indonesian company operating offline car and motorcycle auctions with retail locations in five cities.

Carsome anticipates that this investment in PT Universal will enable a doubling of its automotive transaction volumes within Indonesia.

Synergies and Future Outlook

Carsome projects that integrating with iCar Asia will result in a marketplace generating $1 billion in revenue this year.

The combined entity aims to facilitate approximately 100,000 car transactions annually, supported by over 460,000 live partner listings and a network exceeding 13,000 car dealers.

iCar Asia, publicly listed on the Australian stock exchange, had previously received a takeover offer from Autohome, a China-based online auto marketplace, last year.

Leadership Statement

Eric Cheng, co-founder and group CEO of Carsome, stated that this acquisition represents “the first step toward consolidation to form the largest digital automotive group in terms of revenue, user base, largest live listing and the best end-to-end fulfilment capacity in the region.”