Yehey! to list shares with PSE next year

Yehey!, the country’s leading local search engine, is set on listing its shares with the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) in 2007 as it expects to break even by yearend, according to a top company official.

Yehey! is 88 percent owned by iVantage Corp., a publicly-listed holding firm with interests in banking, money remittance and information technology.

Ivantage director Wilson Sy said Yehey is looking at listing on the third board of the exchange or by way of introduction. Intro listing refers to the listing of shares at the exchange without first undertaking an initial public offering (IPO). Sy is confident his company will be more than ready for its planned IPO. Yehey! is expected to finally go in the black this year on higher advertising revenues.

Yehey! earlier said it was looking to raise between P40 million and P80 million from the maiden offering of its shares. Proceeds from the offering will be used to fund the search engine portal’s continued expansion in order to take advantage of the anticipated growth in the number of Internet users in the country.

Yehey! is in talks with a telecommunications company, media outfit and a financial services group as possible strategic investors in preparation for its planned IPO. About 10 to 20 percent of the company may be sold to prospective investors.

Yehey! needs strategic investors to ensure continued growth and further strengthen operations.

The number of Internet users in the country has been growing. From only 3.4 million in 2004, there are now over five million Internet users and this is expected to increase to 9 million by 2006.

Yehey! is hitting an average of 30 million page views per month (which means that an average user surfs close to 30 pages). It has around 300,0000 registered members.

The company’s bread and butter remains online advertising, mostly coming from global-based accounts including Dell, Levi’s, Ford, Intel, Nokia, and Citibank, HSBC and Sun Life Financial.

Yehey! provides daily Philippine and Asian news, business and financial reports, sports, jobs and daily weather forecasts. It offers 24-hour business feed and real-time stock quotes for free, unlike with other sites.

It is also the center of a vibrant online community of Filipinos worldwide, who come together via the site’s Club Yehey services that include free e-mail, chat, and electronic forums.