Tag: Joint venture

South Korea – Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has partnered with E-Mart Inc. to establish a joint venture, combining their South Korean e-commerce operations in a strategic move to compete more effectively in the country’s growing online retail market.

According to Bloomberg, E-Mart’s stock exchange filing confirmed earlier reports that AliExpress International and Gmarket are forming a 50-50 joint venture. The companies reportedly plan to make additional investments in the venture, which will hold full ownership of Gmarket. 

Sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg that the new entity might be worth about $4 billion.

The joint venture aims to strengthen the companies’ position against local competitors such as Naver Corp. and Coupang Inc. Additionally, Alibaba has reportedly been focusing on expanding its international footprint to offset slower growth in its core Chinese e-commerce operations.

Alibaba’s domestic e-commerce growth remained sluggish in the September quarter, weighing on financial results despite gains in its cloud and international businesses, including Lazada and AliExpress. Facing fierce competition from PDD Holdings and ByteDance, the company has pivoted under CEO Eddie Wu to streamline core operations and prioritise high-growth areas, Bloomberg reported.

Alibaba, under Jiang Fan’s leadership, is integrating its domestic and international e-commerce operations while shedding non-core assets. Last week, the company sold its Intime department store business to Youngor Fashion for $1b, marking a $1.3b loss on its initial investment.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg also reported that E-Mart shares rose 5.5% in Seoul, boosting its market value to $1.4 billion. Alibaba’s American depositary receipts climbed 2.1% in New York, bringing this year’s gains to over 11% and valuing the company at $206 billion. 

E-Mart has been expanding its e-commerce presence through organic growth and acquisitions, including a 2021 deal to acquire a controlling stake in eBay’s South Korean marketplace for $3 billion.

Manila, Philippines – Luxury fashion brand Prada has been recently reported to have entered a joint venture with Philippine luxury retailer SSI Group’s Stores Specialists, Inc., forming a new company in the process for Prada’s expansion in the Philippines. 

Prada’s new company with SSI Group, labelled as Prada Philippines Inc., will own all Prada stores in the Philippines with expectations to accelerate the brand’s growth in the market. 

The joint venture also seeks to enable operating efficiencies, as SSI and Prada transition from a franchisee-franchisor relationship to joint venture partners. The expansion also follows Prada’s higher sales performance seen in its Asian markets. 

Notably, SSI’s initial investment in the joint venture is PHP16.67m, whilst Prada’s initial investment is PHP25m. At completion, SSI’s total investment in Prada Philippines will be PHP152m, while Prada’s total investment in the joint venture will be PHP228m.

In terms of ownership, Prada S.p.A. owns 60% of Prada Philippines Inc., whilst SSI Group owns 40%. 

Prada Philippines Inc. is expected to commence operations on January 1, 2024, effectively taking over operations throughout all Philippine PRADA outlets.

Singapore – Brand management company Authentic Brands Group has announced a joint venture partnership with e-commerce business partner Baozun, with the latter acquiring a 51% interest in the British heritage brand Hunter across Southeast Asia and Greater China.

Authentic and Baozun have also entered an exclusive, long-term license agreement through which Baozun will design, manufacture, market and distribute Hunter brand products in Greater China. The license agreement will be assigned by ABG Hunter LLC to Hunter IP Holdco as the licensor across the region.

Jamie Salter, founder and chairman and CEO at Authentic, said, “We are thrilled to partner with Baozun to grow Hunter in this important region. This strategic move is in line with our strategy to think global and act local.”

He added, “By partnering with Baozun, a leader in digital and e-commerce experiences in China and Southeast Asia, we are able to combine our expertise in brand management with their deep understanding of the local market nuances and cultural trends.”

Meanwhile, Vincent Qiu, chairman and chief executive officer at Baozun, commented, “We are excited to share our recent partnership with Authentic Brands Group, a leading global brand management company that owns a large portfolio of more than 50 brands, including many iconic and world-renowned lifestyle brands.”

He added, “This marks another milestone in our transformation where all three business lines will cooperate together to deliver an extraordinary suite of services to leading global brand companies in China and other Asian markets.”

Manila, Philippines – The Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) has announced that it is bringing Tiong Bahru Bakery and Common Man Coffee Roasters, two Singaporean food franchise establishments, to the Philippines via a joint venture with Food Collective, Pte. Ltd. (FCPL).

Under the joint venture, JFC will own 60% of the business while FCPL will own the remaining 40%. Both companies have committed to invest up to PHP250.0m to the join venture, which shall have its own resources and personnel with JFC taking the lead in the management and operation of the business. 

The joint venture will be the franchisee of both brands in the Philippines.

Tiong Bahru Bakery is famous for being the “Home of the Hand-made Croissants” and for its baked goods and Coffee, with a commitment to producing high-quality food and coffee and celebrating traditional techniques and its local neighbourhoods. 

Meanwhile, Common Man Coffee Roasters operates all-day dining restaurants in Singapore and Malaysia, with an aim to be a champion for speciality coffee and the best all-day dining concept in Asia.

Ernesto Tanmantiong, chief executive officer at Jollibee Foods Corporation, said, “We are excited to enter this joint venture with FCPL to own and operate the Tiong Bahru Bakery and Common Man Coffee Roasters in the Philippines. These brands will be a strong addition to JFC’s foreign franchised brands and will allow JFC to capture an even greater opportunity and strengthen JFC’s position for further growth in the Philippine market.”

FCPL is a majority-owned subsidiary of Titan Lifestyle Holdings Pte. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Titan Dining LP in which JFC has a 90% participating interest. The company is incorporated in Singapore and its primary activity is owning and operating lifestyle brands, including Tiong Bahru Bakery and Common Man Coffee Roasters. 

There are currently 16 Tiong Bahru Bakery and 5 Common Man Coffee Roasters, across Singapore and Malaysia.

Singapore – Singapore Airlines and Indonesian airline Garuda Airlines have bared plans to enter into a joint venture arrangement that would deepen the cooperation between the two carriers, increase passenger capacity between Singapore and Indonesia, and offer customers more travel options between the two countries.

Said joint venture expands on the previous memorandum of understanding between the two airlines on November 2021.

Through the expanded joint venture, Garuda Indonesia and Singapore Airlines are allowed to potentially coordinate schedules between Singapore and Indonesia, offering customers more seamless flight connectivity between the two countries and beyond. 

Moreover, the carriers will also explore the implementation of new initiatives, including joint fare products and an alignment of corporate programmes to enhance the value proposition to customers.

Irfan Setiaputra, president and chief executive officer at Garuda Indonesia, said, “With the existence of more than a decade of collaboration between these two national flag carriers, this joint venture agreement, as a further milestone of the partnership expansion initiative, will certainly strengthen the commitment between the two carriers simultaneously, delivering a seamless and valuable flying experience to both our customers across the globe.”

He added, “The joint venture agreement is also a part of our effort to improve our company’s performance through our network strategy by optimising our network through partnership with our strategic airline partners, especially Singapore Airlines. With this initiative, both airlines agreed to further explore more advantages for both our customers, allowing them to enjoy various flight schedules with enhanced value services within the networks of Garuda Indonesia and Singapore Airlines.”

Meanwhile, Goh Choon Phong, chief executive officer at Singapore Airlines, said: “This joint venture will be a win-win arrangement that elevates the long-standing partnership between Garuda Indonesia and Singapore Airlines. It reflects our firm commitment to grow the aviation markets in Indonesia and Singapore, facilitating a greater level of business and people connections and promoting both countries as regional tourism destinations. Our customers will also enjoy even more benefits, including an improved level of network connectivity, enhanced travel convenience, and additional fare options.”

Hong Kong – Game software and venture capital company Animoca Brands and consumer brand developer Planet Hollywood Group have launched a new joint venture called the ‘MetaHollywood’.

MetaHollywood seeks to transform the awe-inspiring Hollywood experience into a Web3 metaverse that benefits and reaches more supporters, studios, and creators globally within a virtual environment for the creation, ownership, interaction, distribution, and sharing of digital collectibles, movies, clips, and other assets as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), including NFTs based on some of Planet Hollywood’s most iconic physical assets including photography, movie posters, and memorabilia.

Moreover, the joint venture will be providing a community for collectors to own uniquely famous pieces of film history in the form of NFTs as well as to share, interact with, and experience the digital assets in a purpose-built metaverse fueled by the utility of its native token. This will include the tokenisation of over 60,000 of Planet Hollywood’s iconic motion picture memorabilia encompassing all popular film genres, providing the community with exclusive benefits and offerings. These collectible props have been used by movie stars from every era including Arnold Schwarznegger, Tobey Maguire, and Michael J. Fox, as well as Jim Carrey, amongst many others, representing classic, pop culture, and modern Hollywood.

Robert Earl, Planet Hollywood’s founder, commented that he is thrilled to partner with Animoca Brands as they launch Planet Hollywood into the metaverse.

“Through MetaHollywood, we will offer utility and functionality that is unrivalled in this burgeoning sector, and I cannot wait to see what our users create using the power of their imagination,” said Earl.

Meanwhile, Yat Siu, Animoca Brands’ co-founder and executive chairman, shared that they are very excited to partner with Robert Earl and Planet Hollywood to bring this iconic brand into the rapidly growing world of Web3. 

“The MetaHollywood joint venture will create tremendous opportunities by leveraging Planet Hollywood’s vast network of celebrities and IPs and combining them with our industry expertise and our broad portfolio of products and companies,” said Siu.

Just recently, Animoca Brands has acquired Darewise Entertainment, a game developer founded by veterans of the AAA games industry that is currently developing a high-quality blockchain MMO game ‘Life Beyond’. Through the buyout, Animoca Brands will be assisting Darewise Entertainment to fast-track development and publishing in the Web3 space.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Malaysia-based shopper marketing services provider, shopper360, has partnered with data analytics and AI agency Surge Ventures, to form a joint venture called ‘Avinity Analytics’, which aims to provide data analytics, data science, machine learning, and AI to retail, e-commerce, and marketing-related businesses and brands.

According to shopper360, it wants to capitalise on the global AI Software market, which has risen at 35.6% CAGR and will grow to approximately US$300b by 2026. The overall AI market includes a wide array of applications such as natural language processing, robotic process automation, and machine learning. The joint venture is poised to enable shopper360 clients to adopt these capabilities in their day-to-day business operations in retail. It will be incorporated in Singapore to leverage on the country as a regional hub for start-ups, acquiring regional business accounts and a magnet for assisting companies to grow into unicorns.

With an investment of RM1m for 40% equity in Avinity Analytics, shopper360 is confident that it will further unlock the company’s potential in further developing retail analytics and AI technologies. Meanwhile, Surge Ventures will inject contracts worth RM500,000 into Avinity Analytics with a potential pipeline of contracts worth RM1m. This pipeline of potential contracts is not inclusive of shopper360’s current network of clientele which will be introduced over time to the joint venture’s technology for automating data preparation, insight discovery, and AI model deployment for out-of-stock prediction, inventory management, and sales forecasting.

Sue Ann Chew, shopper360’s executive chairman and group managing director, commented that they are very pleased to be embarking on a crucial service offering that will enhance the actionable data they can provide to their clients to help them grow and increase sales.

“We are fortunate to be able to invest in a data team at Surge Ventures that has experience in acquiring clients of all sizes, and a track record of delivering successful data and tech projects. Their passion for data ensures that we will together always adopt the latest data technologies to create a competitive edge,” said Chew.

Shopper360 believes that retail analytics and predictive analysis will be the essence of the new venture, helping FMCG Brands with accuracy in forecast and demand planning that will enable efficient stock ordering.

Vincent Ng, CEO of Surge Ventures, shared that they started working with shopper360 in 2020, and they were able to excite a few of their clients by providing them AI models with their data sets, which they are actively using for their day-to-day operations and decision making.

“We look forward to deepening this partnership to provide more of shopper360 group’s clients with an integrated data dashboard that will help retailers and brands reduce out-of-stock, track in-store price changes and understand competitive brands with data. We are a team of success-hungry founders that has what it takes to grow Avinity Analytics into a successful regional tech company,” said Ng.

Thailand – Ichitan, Thai beverage company that manufactures a wide range of beverages such as green tea, herbal, fruit, and energy drink, seeks to transform itself into a data-driven company through a joint venture with Predictive, a data intelligence service provider.

It was announced in Ichitan Group’s board of directors’ meeting that the company will invest in Predictive by holding 25% shares worth 122.6m Baht to support marketing in the digital era using Big Data as the key factor to drive business through marketing.

Predictive is a company that specializes in data technology. The JV, which is expected to be completed in Q1 of this year, will be enhancing data analysis capabilities and studying the needs of customers for use in marketing planning and for devising ‘marketing responses’ according to the 3N strategy.

The 3N strategy refers to New product, New market, and New business. Ichitan said the goal of the JV is to extend new opportunities in creating data solutions for responding to the growing digital trends with a plan to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in the next three years.

Tan Passakornnatee, president & CEO of Ichitan Group, said, “This year is another important big move of Ichitan in transforming its business into the digital world. We are moving forward by using technology to support both the beverage business and the new business in providing digital data services. Since data is regarded as gold in today’s world and the future, as such those having a lot of data will create an advantage in getting into the mind of the consumers.” 

Predictive who has expertise in information technology is expected to truly enhance the capability of Ichitan’s core business and enable Ichitan’s data management to be a value-added benefit for the JV that provides data services. Ichitan said the arrival of Predictive will also create for the group its own first-party data collection strategy.

Hong Kong – Travel and leisure booking platform, Klook, has announced its joint venture with ZA Tech, the technology venture founded by online insurance ZA International, with the aim to accelerate the availability and accessibility of travel-related insurance to consumers across the globe.

The joint venture will synergize Klook’s global presence and hyper-localized go-to-market strategy alongside ZA Tech’s experience in insurance innovation and technological know-how, ensuring global consumers to have seamless access to a broad selection of travel-related insurance policies at competitive prices.

As part of the agreement, insurers will be able to partner with Klook to feature their insurance products on travel and leisure platforms. Klook will also work closely with insurers to design products that address the pain points of consumers in the new normal. 

C.S. Soong, the vice president of corporate development at Klook, said, “With this, we can further simplify customers’ travel journey, enabling them to discover, book, and purchase all they need during their travels from travel-related insurance to experiences.”

Meanwhile, Young Yang, ZA Tech’s general manager for SEA, commented, “Combining ZA Tech’s cutting-edge solutions and Klook’s extensive market coverage, we are confident we can redefine customers’ travel experience by providing the right insurance product in the right place in a hassle-free way. More exciting developments are to come.” 

Klook will be kickstarting travel-related insurance products on its platform by the end of this year, with a focus on APAC. In addition to the said partnership, ZA Tech will also empower Klook’s platform by exporting its proprietary solution Fusion, to create a seamless digital experience for travelers and the ecosystem partners. 

Moreover, Klook will be leveraging ZA Tech’s customer insights to various markets to strengthen product innovation, customer engagement, and increase insurance penetration.

Philippines – Quiddity Usability Labs, the UX and UI consultancy firm based in the Philippines, has partnered with integrated marketing communications agency MullenLoweTREYNA, to launch its new joint venture, Qairos.

In August this year, MullenLoweTREYNA announced its acquisition of a controlling interest in Quiddity Usability Labs. Under the binding terms of the agreement, Quiddity’s UX/UX expertise will complement MullenLoweTREYNA’s hyper bundled business solutions.

The JV was officially launched on 21 October 2021, and the name takes inspiration from the Greek word Kairos, which translates to ‘right time for the opportunity’.

Qairos aims to create human-kind experiences that are not only usable but also delightful. It also seeks to improve overall experiences through designing and running experiments to solve problems. In addition, the company will be offering services that encompass user experience, customer experience, accessibility, and software development.

Denise Haak, Qairos’ chief executive officer, stated, ”This new joint venture company propels us to reach a larger world of users in continuing to help make things better, one usable product at a time.”

Qairos has recently launched a proprietary Virtual Conference Platform that was used in IMMAP’s DigiconPop 2021, a virtual conference held last 11 to 15 October this year, featuring global keynote speakers and renowned experts.