Thailand’s CP Group to buy Hong Kong e-commerce platform Chilindo

Thailand’s largest private company, Charoen Pokphand Group, says it will buy Hong Kong-based e-commerce platform Chilindo for US$18 million, expanding its digital business as consumer behaviour changes.

CP Group’s existing assets include the Thai and Cambodian operations of convenience-store chain 7-Eleven, wholesaler Siam Makro and telco True.

The acquisition by the company’s digital arm, Ascend Commerce, will complement its online shopping WeMall platform and develop Thailand’s digital economy as the e-commerce market grows amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, said CEO Suphachai Chearavanont in a statement.

WeMall competes with Alibaba’s Lazada, Sea’s Shopee and JD Central, a joint venture between top retailers, Central Group and JD.

Thailand has a burgeoning online shopping industry with consumers buying directly from merchants through social-media platforms like Instagram, as well as local and international marketplaces.

“Chilindo’s plan to enter the international e-commerce market will increase the ability of Thai e-commerce brands to compete on an international level,” Suphachai added as telecommunication operators roll out 5G technology.

CP Group owns Thailand’s second-largest telco operator, True Corporation Pcl, which won 5G licenses in February.

  • Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng, editing by Robert Birsel of Reuters, with additional reporting by Inside Retail Asia.

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