Alibaba Will Invest Another $2 Billion in Online Mall Lazada | Alibaba、オンラインモールLazadaにさらに20億ドルを投資

Bloomberg’s Lulu Chen reports on Alibaba’s decision to invest another $2 billion in Lazada Group.

In a bid to solidify its position in Southeast Asia, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Is looking to deliver another $2 billion investment to Lazada Group SA while a senior executive from the company is also expected to take the helms of Lazada Group SA.

With the present CEO of Lazada, Max Bittner taking up a role as a senior adviser, Lucy Peng who currently holds a position as chairman will be climbing up to the position of chief executive officer. This was contained in a statement released on Monday.

Southeast Asia is quickly turning into a battlefield with major companies looking to take control as soon as possible. With the likes of Sea Ltd.’s Shopee looking to attract as many customers as it can, and Amazon.com Inc. also set up in Singapore, it is no surprise that Alibaba is arming itself for the storm coming. In addition to an earlier $2 billion which Alibaba spent to gain the controlling shares of Lazada, the latest investment gives the company a better advantage in the way of acquiring customers as well as improvements to technology.

Shanghai-based analyst, Steven Zhu, who works with Pacific Epoch stated that the step taken by the company is from its strategy to expand overseas. This involves using a platform to test the waters before taking full control.

Chinese rivals to the Alibaba Group, JD.com Inc, are one of the major companies which have set their sights on Southeast Asia. With Alibaba placing the region as a milestone to their global expansion, Richard Liu, CEO of JD has also committed to expanding the reach of JD to all countries in Southeast Asia before the year runs out.

Although there is no official statement by Alibaba on the effect of its most recent investment in Lazada, the company invested $1 billion in 2016 and another in 2017 to achieve an 83% holding in the company. Temasek Holdings Pte is one of the other shareholders in the company along with the Alibaba Group.

In a statement by Peng, sent via e-mail, she stated that there had been a confidence boost in the ability of the company to clamp down on the Southeast Asia region. She also inferred a burst of fresh excitement at the new possibilities of improved growth for the company.

The payments affiliate company of Alibaba, Ant Financial, also has an executive chair position occupied by Peng.

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阿里巴巴将向网上商城Lazada再投资20亿美元

阿里巴巴集团控股有限公司将向Lazada Group SA再投资20亿美元。 根据周一的一份声明，已经是Lazada主席的彭蕾将接任成为首席执行官。彭蕾还是阿里巴巴集团旗下蚂蚁金融的执行主席。

阿里巴巴正在准备在竞争激烈的东南亚市场分得一杯羹，在此之前，竞争对手亚马逊公司已进驻新加坡，并且Shopee也正在东南亚扩张。

东南亚是阿里巴巴全球扩张的一个重要据点，也是中国知名企业京东商城正在瞄准的一个蓬勃发展的地区。

2016年，阿里巴巴支付了10亿美元收购了Lazada的部分股份，而去年又增加了10亿美元，将其持股份额增加到了83％。

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 Alibaba、オンラインモールLazadaにさらに20億ドルを投資

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.は、Lazada Group SAにさらに20億ドルを投資し、東南アジアでの存在感を高める方向へ。Lazadaの会長を務めるLucy Peng氏が最高経営責任者（CEO）に就任し、それと同時に、現CEOのMax Bittner氏は辞任し、上級顧問として残るとのこと。

Sea LtdのShopeeは消費者の獲得に向け拡大し、Amazon.com Inc.はシンガポールでのローンチを行なっており、Alibabaは、東南アジアでの熾烈な戦いのために準備を進めています。約20億ドルのLazadaへの投入に続く、今回の新たな投資は、活力溢れるビジネスに技術開発と顧客獲得のために必要な弾薬を与えることになります。

上海に拠点を置くPacific Epochのアナリスト、Steven Zhu氏は、「これは海外展開戦略の一環で、テストプラットフォームとして特定のプラットフォームを使用している。そして現在、オペレーションそのものを実行することになる」とコメントしています。

東南アジアは、Alibabaの世界的な拡大における重要なエリアであり、中国の強敵JD.com Inc.がすでにターゲットとしています。現に、JDのCEO、Richard Liu氏は、年末までに東南アジア各国に拠点を置くことを公約していいます。Lazadaの他の株主としては、経営陣とTemasek Holdings Pteが挙げられます。Alibabaは2016年にLazadaの株式のために10億ドルを支払った後、83％にその持分を上げるために昨年に10億ドルを追加しました。同社は、最新の投資でどのように株式が変わるかについては言及を控えています。