Thai retailer Central Group has reportedly signed a deal to buy the Zalora Asia sites in Thailand and Vietnam from Rocket Internet.
Inside Retail Asia last week reported the sites were up for grabs, but at that stage a buyer was yet to be revealed.
It has been authoritatively reported in Thailand that the giant multinational retailer and mall developer has agreed to the purchase, with only regulatory red tape to be overcome.
Central Group has interests not only in Thailand but also Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. Its assets include shopping malls and department store chains, and are worth nearly US$10 billion. It has about 70,000 employees.
Sources say the Zalora deal could be worth about $20 million, and that it is a chance for Central Group to move into eCommerce, says TechCrunch.
Rocket Internet’s eCommerce startups have needed capital injections to stay in business, with Lazada receiving a $500 million investment from Alibaba this month after running out of cash, while Zalora is still losing money despite claiming 10 million downloads of its mobile apps and 1.4 million transactions a year across 10 Asia-Pacific countries.
Zalora raised more than $200 million from investors before becoming a GFG entity in November 2014. GFG raises capital centrally for all Rocket Internet fashion sites.
