A consortium led by China’s Alibaba Group and Baring Private Equity Asia is investing US$400 million into the retail arm of Vietnam’s Masan Group, an investment that is expected to further fuel the growth of Lazada – Alibaba’s Southeast Asian e-commerce platform.

Masan, one of Vietnam’s largest private conglomerates, announced on May 18 that the consortium will take a 5.5% stake in The CrownX, Masan's consumer retail arm which consolidates its interests in Masan Consumer Holdings and VinCommerce.

The transaction implies a pre-investment valuation of US$6.9 billion for 100% of its equity, an equivalent of US$93.5 (or 2.15 million dong) per share. Masan will own 80.2% of The CrownX following the completion of the deal.

Credit Suisse (Singapore) acted as the exclusive financial adviser to Masan Group in the deal, while Deutsche Bank served as the exclusive financial adviser to Baring Private Equity Asia.

As part of Alibaba’s investment, The CrownX will partner with Lazada to build its digital presence and capabilities and accelerate the offline-to-online (O2O) market in Vietnam.

Masan chief executive officer Danny Le says: “The strategic partnership will accelerate our ability to achieve our goal of transforming The CrownX into a one-stop shop to serve consumers’ everyday needs, whether offline or online. Our immediate priority is to modernize Vietnam’s grocery market and develop an unparalleled consumer proposition from assortment to shopping experience.”

Kenny Ho, Alibaba’s head of investment for Southeast Asia, adds: “The combination of Alibaba’s online retail expertise, Lazada’s e-commerce platform in Vietnam, and Masan’s leading offline network will be a strong catalyst to modernize Vietnam’s retail landscape. We look forward to building a champion offline-to-online platform alongside Masan.”

Following the deal, VinCommerce will be the preferred grocery retailer of choice on Lazada’s e-commerce platform in Vietnam. VinCommerce operates one of the largest convenience store chains in the country of 97 million people.

Masan says it is currently also in advanced talks with other investors regarding a further strategic investment of US$300-400 million into The CrownX. The discussions with these investors, whose names have not been revealed, are expected to close in 2021.

Masan Group’s member companies and associates are major players in branded food and beverages, branded meat, chemical processing, and financial services, which are represented by Techcombank, one of Vietnam’s major commercial and retail banks.