THE Bartercard payment system looks like going public.
Bartercard executive director Trevor Dietz said the company was investigating avenues to raise capital.
It is understood part of this capital raising will involve a float on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Mr Dietz said the focus of the capital raising was to extend Bartercard’s base in Australia.
“We’re moving strongly into the electronic commerce area,” he said.
“We intend to introduce an online auction site plus an online Bartercard payments system.
“We’re investing $2 million to $3 million in that development.”
Mr Dietz said he believed Bartercard would be the first trading house to take its payment system online.
The company is also investing a considerable amount of money in marketing.
“We’re going beyond just brand awareness,” Mr Dietz said.
“We want to explain what Bartercard is and how it works.”
Last year 18,000 businesses traded $440 million in trade dollars in Australasia.
Bartercard currently has thirty-four offices across Australia.
It is not the first trading house to operate on the barter concept.
The concept has been running in the US for the past thirty years.
However, Mr Dietz said Bartercard was internationally recognised as being the best at what it did.
“We’re doing for trade houses what McDonald’s did for hamburgers,” he said.
