Accelerate Postponing IPO Until Next Year, Lay Off 60 Employees

PT Indonesian Business Acceleration (Akseleran Group) postpone the implementation of the IPO from the original plan on August 9, 2023 to next year. The company argued that the decision was triggered because it had not found the right strategic investors to support it going forward.

"Due to the current market conditions, it will take a longer time to get strategic investors that can support the company going forward. Therefore, the company decided to delay the IPO for a while," said Group CEO & Co-founder Acceleran Ivan Nikolas Tambunan in an official statement.

Separately, quoting from Investor.id, Ivan explained another triggering factor was that market conditions were stillwait and see', especially for institutional investors, where the technology sector is not yet attractive and high interest rates this year. Not to mention the average daily transaction value (RNTH) which is considered to be unmotivated this year compared to 2022.

"Tech IPOs are also institutional investors too wait and see. That's why it takes more time to secure strategic investors for us," he stressed.

According to this news, the company carried out an internal restructuring by laying off (PHK) approximately 60 employees. Almost all divisions were affected by this decision.

Ivan said that this restructuring was carried out so that the group is in optimal condition to be able to carry out its operations more effectively and efficiently, so that it is able to grow sustainably in the long term and remain financially healthy.

He argued that this restructuring was not a shortcut taken by the company. Previously, similar decisions have been taken to improve financial performance since 2020, including substantially increasing operating revenues by 105%, 117% and 80%, respectively from 2020-2022, as well as managing costs efficiently at the same time.

"This is the company's first internal restructuring since it first started operating in 2017."

Affected employees will certainly receive compensation in accordance with their rights regulated in the applicable laws. Not only that, the company will provide financial and professional support, extend health insurance, provide laptops, as well arrangement flexible work so that they can make the transition and continue their career going forward.

Post-IPO impact

As a result of the postponement of the IPO, the company's plan to fully acquire multifinance company PT Pratama Interdana Finance (PIF) has also been delayed. Ivan admitted that he was still discussing this with PIF management.

"Deal him, we will see market conditions in the next one year. So maybe if we do it using the fourth quarter book, that means until June next year. That's why we see market conditions until next year," he explained.

Even so, the company will continue its business as p2p loans by providing easy access to distribution for SMEs and safe investment funding for the community.

Based on the company's 2022 financial statements, Acceleran still recorded a loss of IDR 22 billion. The target to generate net profit by the fourth quarter of 2023 will be pursued, with efforts to increase loan disbursement as well as income, as well as efficiency in operational expenses.

In the same period, the company has disbursed more than IDR 6,5 trillion in loans to thousands of loan recipients, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of loan disbursements reaching 96% per year from 2018-2022.

As of June 2023, the company has disbursed loans of IDR 1,44 trillion, this figure has increased by 22% on a year-on-year. The NPL level can be maintained stably at 0.66% of outstanding loans as of June 2023. This figure is claimed to be one of the lowest in Indonesia for a p2p lending company.

From a funding standpoint, Akseleran is supported by more than 200 thousand retail lenders and various institutional lenders, including from BCA, BRI, Bank OCBC, Bank Mandiri and Bank Jtrust.