(VOVWORLD) - A consortium led by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba will invest 400 million USD in the subsidiary of Vietnam’s conglomerate Masan Group.
 A consumer buys pork at a Vinmart supermarket. (Photo: VNA) |
The consortium, including Baring Private Equity Asia, one of the largest private equity firms in Asia, has signed an agreement to acquire a 5.5% stake in The CrownX, a deal that values the company at 6.9 billion USD.
Masan will own an 80.2% stake in the company after the deal. With Alibaba on board, The CrownX will partner with its Southeast Asian ecommerce company Lazada to accelerate the offline to online market in Vietnam.
“As a long-term investor in the country, we think Vietnam has a long runway for growth supported by strong macroeconomic tailwinds and attractive demographics,” stated Janice Leow, managing director at BPEA.
VinCommerce, the subsidiary of The CrownX that operates the VinMart supermarket and VinMart+ convenience store chains, will be the preferred grocery retailer on Lazada in Vietnam, and its outlets will be used as pick-up points for onlin