Brief: Singaporean real estate giant forges alliance with Alibaba

Jason Leow, CEO of CapitaLand Mall Asia (left) and Alexis Lanternier, CEO of Lazada Singapore. Photo credit: CapitaLand.

The news:

• Singapore’s CapitaLand, one of Asia’s largest real estate companies, announced a strategic alliance with China’s Alibaba today. The company will manage Alibaba’s new Shanghai headquarters and launch an online mall with the Chinese giant’s Southeast Asian subsidiary Lazada.
• CapitaLand will open Singapore’s first exclusive “shop within a shop” on Lazada’s online platform. Two unmanned click-and-collect locations will also be set up in the city, where shoppers can collect and return shipments purchased online through Lazada.

Why it matters:

• Alibaba is Lazada’s biggest shareholder. In January, it was disclosed that Alibaba has invested over US$2 billion into Lazada, rounding up an 83 percent stake in Southeast Asia’s biggest ecommerce site.
• The Chinese company has sought to further strengthen its foothold in Southeast Asia’s ecommerce landscape, after it participated in a US$1.1 billion funding round for Indonesia’s consumer-to-consumer online marketplace Tokopedia earlier this month.