SINGAPORE, 3 January 2001 - NASDAQ-listed chinadotcom corporation (chinadotcom) through its subsidiary china.com Studios Inc (CCS) is, subject to certain criteria being met, to invest $1.25 million in ZingASIA Pte Ltd (ZingASIA), a wholly-owned unit of Panpac Media.com Limited (Panpac), and a global Internet-powered leisure and travel business.
The investment by CCS will form part of the $10 million in new funding, which ZingASIA is seeking to raise through the issue of new ZingASIA shares to strategic partners and investors, to fund its global expansion.
In February last year, Panpac and chinadotcom did a share swap, which resulted in chinadotcom holding a 10.04% stake in the enlarged share capital of Panpac.
Said Mr Ricky Ang, Panpac&194;’s Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer: &194;“We are at various stages of discussion with several potential local and overseas investors and strategic partners, to co-invest in ZingASIA, and we hope to raise in aggregate at least $10 million within the next three months.&194;”
&194;“Also, our relationship with chinadotcom has always been excellent. This deal is further testimony of the partners&39; desire to further strengthen the prevailing close ties at the operating level. chinadotcom&39;s direct investment into ZingASIA will no doubt assist in accelerating its growth and its global expansion plans,&194;” added Mr Ang
Concurrent with the signing of the Subscription Agreement, the parties also entered into a Product Sale Agreement, under which ZingASIA will acquire from chinadotcom, US$250,000 (S$435,000) worth of software and tools to enhance the functionalities and stickiness of its http://www.ZingASIA.com portal.
In addition, the parties have entered into an Advertising Agreement, whereby ZingASIA will allocate a part of its marketing budget to advertising on china.com portals, namely http://www.china.com, http://www.hongkong.com and http://www.taiwan.com at preferential rates, to enhance its presence in the Greater China markets. The advertising deal is worth in aggregate, US$200,000 (S$348,000).
Chinadotcom is the holding company of CCS and a substantial shareholder of the Company, holding 10.04% of the issued capital of the Company. The total value of the transactions under the three aforesaid agreements represents more than 5% of the latest audited net tangible assets of the Company based on the audited accounts of the Company for the financial year ended 31 March 2000.
Accordingly, the transactions fall within the ambit of Chapter 9A of the SGX Listing Manual for which shareholders&194;’ approval is required.
&194;“The software acquired from chinadotcom will enable ZingASIA to quickly deploy common-feature functionalities which are robust, tried and tested. Our own technical team can then focus on other important functionalities which will uniquely give us the competitive edge,&194;” said Paul Chong, Executive Director&Exco Chairman, ZingASIA. &194;“The preferential advertising rates, which ZingASIA have secured from chinadotcom will help ZingASIA acquire traffic and e-commerce sales in the Greater China markets cost effectively,&194;” added Mr Chong.
For further information, please contact Mr Ricky Ang at Tel 3939 889 or Mr Paul Chong at Tel 3939 703.
About ZingASIA
ZingASIA is an Internet-powered leisure and travel business. It offers a comprehensive one-stop information resource on leisure, travel, lifestyle and living in major Asia Pacific cities, complete with on-line travel products, including airline tickets, hotel bookings, tours and ground services.
Currently, ZingASIA covers 19 locations in the region, spanning Australia, Greater China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
For additional information, please log on to http://www.ZingASIA.com
About Panpac Media.com
Panpac Media.com is one of Singapore&194;’s leading homegrown magazine and multimedia publisher. Formed in October 1994, it currently publishes over 40 magazines and periodicals in three different languages in Singapore, and Malaysia, and operates two major complementary Internet portals http://www.AsiaStockWatch.com and http://www.ZingASIA.com.
Additional information on Panpac Media.com and its products and services are available at its corporate website at http://www.panpacmedia.com
About chinadotcom corporation
chinadotcom corporation (NASDAQ: CHINA; Website: http://www.corp.china.com) is a leading integrated Internet company offering e-business solutions, portal and e-marketing services. Through its three-dimensional business model, chinadotcom provides a full range of Internet services around the world that; 1) build e-business strategies and solutions (chinadotcom e-solutions), 2) distribute content via its portal network (chinadotcom portals), and 3) sell services through online marketing (chinadotcom e-marketing).
Fuelling the growth of these three business units is a synergistic investment strategy (chinadotcom ventures) that leverages on chinadotcom&194;’s existing operational and cost infrastructure. By partnering with companies that have proven and successful track records, chinadotcom is well positioned to create long term shareholder value through its investments.
The company and its subsidiaries have offices in more than 10 markets, including Japan, Korea, Australia, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, UK and the USA. For more information about chinadotcom corporation, please visit http://www.corp.china.com
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