Alibaba leads US$400m investment in Vietnam retail firm

Alibaba and Baring Private Equity Asia are leading a consortium that will take a 5.5% stake in The CrownX, which holds Masan’s interests in Masan Consumer Holdings and VinCommerce.

HANOI: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and partners are investing $400 million in Vietnamese conglomerate Masan Group Corp.’s retail arm, a deal that will expand the Chinese e-commerce giant’s online groceries business in Southeast Asia.

Alibaba and Baring Private Equity Asia are leading a consortium that will take a 5.5% stake in The CrownX, which holds Masan’s interests in Masan Consumer Holdings and VinCommerce, while the conglomerate will own 80.2% of the firm following the investment, according to a statement Tuesday.

The deal implies a pre-investment valuation of $6.9 billion for The CrownX, the statement showed.