Commerce One Wednesday added another link to its global chain of B2B sites by signing a letter of intent to establish an joint venture company with seven China-based businesses.
The Chinese partners said they are prepared to commit up to $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 Beijing Enterprises, i-CABLE Ventures,
Jardine Internet, New World China Enterprises Projects, SUNeVision, Swire Net
Ventures and WI Harper Group. The seven companies and their affiliates claim to have an approximate trading volume of 20 percent of Hong Kong’s gross
domestic product.
Commerce One said the portal will anchor the Hong Kong and mainland China hub
of the Global Trading Web, providing B2B trading opportunities industries
including aviation, automotive supply chain, building materials, computers
and components, fixed and wireless telecommunications, hotels, medical and
healthcare products, retail, shipping and logistics.
“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,” said
Mark Hoffman, chief executive officer and chairman of Commerce One.
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 company will seek other strategic partners in
Asia to extend the range of industries represented to include sectors such as
petrochemicals and finance.
Commerce One currently is involved in more than 30 Global Trading Web
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 U.S, Deutsche Telekom in Germany, NTT Communications in
Japan, SESAMi.com in Singapore, Swisscom in Switzerland and Toronto Dominion
Bank in Canada.
Previously established partnerships in Asia include Sinar Mas Group of Indonesia and Nissho Iwai of
Japan operating regional and industry specific portals, as well as Com2B, a
joint venture in Taiwan.
Commerce One operates boasts that its Global Trading Web, running on the Commerce One MarketSite portal solution,
is the world’s largest B2B trading community.