China’s Alibaba to buy 10% stake in Singapore Post

In addition to selling 30 million ordinary shares, the listed company is issuing 190.096 million new shares to Alibaba Investment at S$1.42 apiece.

The two companies are also discussing a possible joint venture focusing on e-commerce logistics, particularly in Southeast Asia.

The strategic cooperation offers Alibaba access to SingPost's regional logistics including warehousing, last-mile delivery and parcel collection. Meanwhile, it will strengthen SingPost's operations by providing expertise in e-commerce.

"Through this collaboration, we hope to create concrete benefits for our overseas buyers and sellers by enhancing the user experience and providing greater access to a suite of international e-commerce logistics solutions and products," Daniel Zhang, Alibaba's COO, said in a statement.

Asia is on track to become the largest e-commerce market in the world, with the sales expected to pass $1 trillion by 2020, according to industry research firm eMarketer.

Alibaba has been particularly active in building out delivery infrastructure to support its operations.

In May, it formed the China Smart Logistic Network, also known as Cainiao Network Technology, teaming up with five existing logistics providers to help the company achieve greater penetration in lower-tier cities. Chinese conglomerate Fosun International contributed RMB500 million for a 10% interest in the project.

Last week, Yunfeng Capital, a private equity firm established by Jack Ma and David Yu, founders of Alibaba and Target Media, respectively, invested an undisclosed sum for Quanfeng Express, a Chinese courier services provider.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Southeast Asia
• PIPEs
• Support services
• China
• Singapore
• Logistics
• Joint Venture
• PIPE
• TMT
• e-commerce