Trio see Advantage in e-commerce

By KARYN SCHERER

Three major investors behind information technology company Advantage Group have created a new e-commerce company.

Advantage chairman Evan Christian and fellow directors Nick Gordon and Eric Watson - who between them own just under half of Advantage - have decided to pool their shares in a new company known as ePac.

Mr Christian said yesterday the trio had decided to set up the new company to take advantage of international e-commerce opportunities, and in the hope of capitalising on the much more buoyant market for e-commerce companies in the United States.

"We're keen on keeping Advantage focused on its core competencies but outside of that space there are a lot of other opportunities that we're personally keen to expand into."

In a notice to the stock exchange, the trio said ePac would buy their Advantage holdings at $2.50 per share and $2.23 per option.

While the trio are eying the US for investment opportunities, they have also signalled they are keen to invest in business-to-business e-commerce companies in Europe, Asia and the Pacific.

They trio have signalled ePac may eventually seek a listing on the Nasdaq exchange in the US, but Mr Christian said nothing definite had yet been decided. A local listing was unlikely, as he did not believe the New Zealand market sufficiently understood e-commerce companies.

"If Advantage was listed in the States, we would have a valuation many times what we have now."

The move will pit ePac against another fast-growing information technology company, IT Capital.

It also comes as Sky founder Craig Heatley tries to launch a local branch of internet player eVentures, with backing from Rupert Murdoch's media interests.

The same trio are also investors in Orion Ventures, the company behind FlyingPig, which is aiming to become a local version of US internet retailer Amazon.com.