Alibaba puts another $1 billion into Lazada

Alibaba Group is to invest almost another $1 billion in Southeast Asian e-commerce platform Lazada, bringing Lazada’s implied valuation up to $3.15 billion.

The two companies have released a joint statement to announce the the deal that will increase Alibaba Group’s stake from 51% to 83%.

Alibaba plowed $1 billion into Lazada in April 2016 to take a controlling share. The move was made up of $500 million in Lazada shares and purchased shares from other Lazada stakeholders, including Rocket Internet (the Frankfurt-listed incubator that invested in Lazada), Tesco, and Kinnevik. That made Lazada worth $1.5 billion at the time.

Rocket Internet announced today that it had sold its remaining 8.8% stake in Lazada to Alibaba Group for $276 million. In the April 2016 round, Rocket Internet sold a 9.1% stake to Alibaba Group for $137 million.

Oliver Samwer, CEO of Rocket Internet said in a statement: “Lazada has been a great success for us and is testament to our ability to support companies in Emerging Markets. Since the launch of the company in 2012 in Southeast Asia, Lazada has become the leading eCommerce player in the region.”

Lazada is the top online shopping and selling platform in Southeast Asia and operates in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines. Unlike Alibaba in China, Lazada also operates its own first and last mile delivery operation as part of its offering.

The announcement comes the same day as unconfirmed reports that Alibaba Group is acquiring the telecommunications software division of ZTE, ZTEsoft, for between $294 – 441 million.