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In a move to extend the scope of the Global Trading Web, the world's largest business-to-business (B2B) trading community, Commerce One - the leader in global e-commerce solutions for business - today signed a letter of intent to establish a joint venture company with seven leading Greater China businesses. The partners are prepared to commit up to US$40 million of initial investment to develop a business-to-business portal for exchanging goods and services among businesses worldwide.
The joint venture partners include i-CABLE Ventures, SUNeVision, Beijing Enterprises, Jardine Internet, New World China Enterprises Projects, Swire Net Ventures and WI Harper Group. The seven companies and their affiliates have an approximate trading volume of 20 per cent of Hong Kong's gross domestic product.
The portal will anchor the Hong Kong and mainland China hub of the Global Trading Web, providing B2B trading opportunities for many industries including aviation, automotive supply chain, building materials, computers and components, fixed and wireless telecommunications, hotels, medical and healthcare products, retail, shipping and logistics.
"Analysts estimate that by 2003 B2B transactions will be worth almost US$3 trillion," said Mark Hoffman, chief executive officer and chairman of Commerce One. "By forming this joint venture we are ensuring that both suppliers and sellers in the Greater China region are able to fully exploit the unparalleled trading opportunities presented by the Global Trading Web.
"Our joint venture partners comprise a formidable procurement force in the region that fully understands the long-term strategic value of Internet-based trading communities."
The joint venture partners and their suppliers will be among the first to join the trading community by building domain-specific vertical trade hubs linking current suppliers and buyers. The joint venture company will also recruit suppliers and buyers from outside the partners' own company supply chains.
In addition, the joint venture company will seek other strategic partners in Asia to extend the range of industries represented to include sectors such as petrochemicals and finance.
The Global Trading Web comprises many open e-marketplaces running on the Commerce One MarketSite Portal solution and provides unprecedented economies of scale for companies worldwide. Each global trading portal is independently owned and operated by a leading market maker or market makers in a region or industry, in order to provide the widest choice for all trading partners.
There are currently more than 30 global trading portals, including those operated by Banacci in Latin America, British Telecom in the UK, Cable & Wireless Optus in Australia, Citigroup in the US, Commerce One in the US, Deutsche Telekom in Germany, NTT Communications in Japan, SESAMi.com in Singapore, Swisscom in Switzerland and Toronto Dominion Bank in Canada.
In addition, General Motors and the Royal Dutch/Shell group operate global trading portals for the automotive and energy industries. General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Daimler Chrysler have announced plans to form a combined exchange for the auto industry.
Certain statements made in this press release by Commerce One are not historical facts but are "forward looking statements" and may involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual future results to differ materially and adversely from those anticipated by such statements. Included among the factors that could affect Commerce One's performance are: the ability of the joint venture to build its business successfully; the ability of the joint venture to effectively manage future growth; general economic conditions; fluctuations in operating results; market acceptance of the joint venture technology; and the ability of the Commerce One technology to support the operations of the joint venture etc. For a discussion of these and other risk factors that could affect Commerce One's business, see "Risk Factors" in Commerce One's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 1999.
Commerce One, Many Markets, One Source, Global Trading Web, BuySite, MarketSite, Global Trading Platform, Common Business Library, XML Development Kit, XML Commerce Connector, MarketView, and SupplyOrder are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Commerce One, Inc. All other company, product and brand names are trademarks of their respective owners.