Alibaba makes first investment in Vietnam, buys stake in retail chain
China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba together with Hong Kong-based private equity firm Baring Private Equity Asia and other partners is investing $400 million in the retail division of Vietnamese conglomerate Masan Group, the company said in a statement on May 18.
The consortium will take a 5.5 per cent stake in The CrownX, Vietnam’s biggest retail company which was formed through a merger of Vingroup’s retail units and high-tech farms with Masan’s food and beverage unit in 2019 and operates the VinMart grocery chain in the country. The deal values the Masan retail unit at $6.9 billion.
The investment is Alibaba’s first-ever in Vietnam and seeks to expand Alibaba’s online grocery business in the region. As part of the deal, the Vietnamese retail firm will team up with Alibaba’s Southeast Asian online shopping division Lazada and equip its brick-and-mortar stores with pick-up points for online orders.
Around 3,000 outlets turn to online shopping pick-up points
The deal will give Alibaba and Lazada access to a network of 130 supermarkets and 2,900 grocery stores in Vietnam, the statement said.
Vietnam’s digital economy is forecast to grow to $52 billion by 2025, an annual increase of 29 per cent from 2020, according to estimates in a recent e-commerce study on the Southeast Asia region by Bain & Co., Google and Singapore’s Temasek.
VinMart's 2,900 mini stores and 130 supermarkets will become pick-up joints for online shopper on Alibaba's Lazada China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba together with Hong Kong-based private equity firm Baring Private Equity Asia and other partners is investing $400 million in the retail division of Vietnamese conglomerate Masan Group, the company said in a statement on May 18. The consortium will take a 5.5 per cent stake in The CrownX, Vietnam's biggest retail company which was formed through a merger of Vingroup's retail units and high-tech farms with Masan's food and beverage unit in 2019 and operates the VinMart grocery chain...
China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba together with Hong Kong-based private equity firm Baring Private Equity Asia and other partners is investing $400 million in the retail division of Vietnamese conglomerate Masan Group, the company said in a statement on May 18.
The consortium will take a 5.5 per cent stake in The CrownX, Vietnam’s biggest retail company which was formed through a merger of Vingroup’s retail units and high-tech farms with Masan’s food and beverage unit in 2019 and operates the VinMart grocery chain in the country. The deal values the Masan retail unit at $6.9 billion.
The investment is Alibaba’s first-ever in Vietnam and seeks to expand Alibaba’s online grocery business in the region. As part of the deal, the Vietnamese retail firm will team up with Alibaba’s Southeast Asian online shopping division Lazada and equip its brick-and-mortar stores with pick-up points for online orders.
Around 3,000 outlets turn to online shopping pick-up points
The deal will give Alibaba and Lazada access to a network of 130 supermarkets and 2,900 grocery stores in Vietnam, the statement said.
Vietnam’s digital economy is forecast to grow to $52 billion by 2025, an annual increase of 29 per cent from 2020, according to estimates in a recent e-commerce study on the Southeast Asia region by Bain & Co., Google and Singapore’s Temasek.
