Alibaba injects US$845 million into South-east Asia unit Lazada

ALIBABA Group Holding injected US$845 million into Lazada, its online retail business in South-east Asia that’s facing intensifying competition from rivals such as Sea and Amazon.com.

The capital infusion, disclosed in a regulatory filing in Singapore on Wednesday (Jul 19), brings the total that Alibaba has invested in the arm to several billion dollars since it gained control over the business in 2016. Alibaba and Lazada representatives didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Lazada is part of the international online shopping unit that Alibaba is planning to potentially take public in the US. The Chinese tech behemoth is splitting into six parts to spur growth of its various businesses, which include e-commerce, logistics and the cloud.

Alibaba has in the past explored splitting off Lazada. The unit, bought in stages from Rocket Internet, is considered one of the Chinese firm’s most high-profile international brands. It competes with Amazon and Sea’s Shopee in South-east Asian markets such as Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

In 2022, Alibaba discussed raising at least US$1 billion for Lazada before calling off negotiations with potential investors when talks bogged down over its valuation. It had aimed to secure the funding as a precursor to a spinoff. Alibaba has since mothballed the fundraising and injected additional funds into the company instead. BLOOMBERG