By Jane Luscombe
The public are being offered the chance to grab a stake in one of New Zealand's most popular online companies.
Fairfax, the Australian media giant that owns Trade Me, has announced it will be offering between 30 and 35 percent of the company’s value as shares on the New Zealand stock exchange.
A flotation on the ASX is also being considered.
Every day 700,000 log on to auction website Trade Me looking for a bargain.
Now there is a chance they could buy a piece of the company itself.
Investment advisor Grant Collie from Forsyth Barr says this is great news.
“I think that the average mum and dad out there would love to be part of what's really a wonderful New Zealand success story,” says Mr Collie.
The head of the NZX says the listing would be highly significant.
“We've never had a listing like Trade Me. The companies globally like TM, the Ebays and Googles of the world, it will be the first pure play at scale internet business listed in NZ,” says NZX Chief Executive Mark Weldon.
Trade Me was founded by Sam Morgan in 1999 and sold to Fairfax for $700 million.
Former Fairfax chief executive David Kirk was criticised at the time for paying so much.
But five years later it is valued at more than a billion.
“If they price it well, I'm sure they will want to do, they will want to create a good feeling around it. I think if they do it correctly, I think they can do a great job,” says Mr Collie.
The sale was announced as Fairfax revealed an annual loss of half a billion dollars.
It hopes the sale will offset most of that.
But before any of this can happen the details of the initial public offer have to be finalised.
So we are still waiting to hear a date for the sale.
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