E-trade wizard eyes next step

By ROB O'NEILL

Entrepreneur Eric Watson is understood to be planning a new public company to combine his local investment interests, now inaccessible to private investors.

This indicates Mr Watson will soon embark on a new round of acquisitions after the recent stock market upheaval.

Market sources suggest he will pursue older "bricks and mortar" companies and update them to e-commerce technology.

Investors wishing to follow Mr Watson's activities now have to mimic his investments through individual listed companies such as Strathmore Group and Advantage Group.

A new listed company would let them get closer to the wider range of investments and deals in which he is involved, often through his private holding company Cullen Investments.

Mr Watson would not detail his plans for Cullen Investments yesterday.

But he was "quite happy" about the sharemarket slump, saying it created new opportunities.

"We're a long-term investor and we are quite happy about it," he said. "We're not looking to sell anything. We're looking to acquire further.

"It makes it clear to us that to be successful in e-commerce and in technology markets, you need to work e-commerce companies and bricks and mortar companies together."

The move to consolidate his local interests is separate from similar moves to amalgamate the e-commerce interests of Mr Watson, Advantage Group chairman Evan Christian and director Nick Gordon into Qixel Capital Group, formerly ePac.

That company now owns just under half of Advantage Group after its merger with Mr Christian's Wiltshire Technology Holdings was completed on March 24.

Late last year, ePac was considering a Nasdaq move, but Mr Watson said yesterday that was a "longer term plan."

"The first part of the plan is a first-round capital raising," he said. The state of the market was unlikely to affect that.

Qixel Capital's plans appear very similar to those of eVentures, which launched its $30 million public offering yesterday.

Qixel plans to operate as a business-to-business accelerator. The company's web site says it will join US e-commerce companies to launch their businesses in this part of the world.

eVentures will import and launch e-businesses from its part-owner, Softbank.

On Monday, Qixel announced it had established its head office in California and appointed American Robert Stern as executive vice-president and chief financial officer.