Alibaba Steps Up Asia Logistics Presence With New SingPost Investment

FORBES: China’s Alibaba Group is deepening ties with Singapore’s national postal service provider SingPost, as the e-commerce titan seeks to grow its international businesses. Alibaba, which last year invested $249 million for a 10.35% stake in Singapore Post Ltd, has agreed to spend another $138.6 million to acquire an additional 5% stake. The company will hold 14.51% of SingPost upon completion of the deal, which is subject to the approval of SingPost shareholders and Singaporean authorities, Alibaba announced in a statement today

Alibaba will also invest $67.85 million for a 34% stake in SingPost subsidiary Quantium Solutions International, which provides logistics and warehousing solutions to more than 10 countries across Asia Pacific. QSI will become a joint venture between SingPost and Alibaba, according to the statement.

The deals come as Alibaba is expanding cross-border e-commerce businesses. The company is beefing up its international presence by partnering with embassies and countries to bring foreign products into China through Tmall Global, an international shopping platform under Tmall. It is also stepping up logistics investment to help Chinese merchants sell to global customers through its AliExpress website.

“This additional investment into SingPost and establishment of a joint venture signify our commitment in expanding our global logistics footprint, which in turn will help Chinese businesses sell, and global brands deliver more easily around the world,” Alibaba Chief Executive Daniel Zhang said in the statement.

The partnership with SingPost will increase Chinese merchants’ delivery reliability and efficiency, according to an Alibaba spokesperson. It will also help SingPost become a regional logistics platform as it faces a decline in mail revenue, according to the statement.

Alibaba is currently the second largest shareholder in SingPost after Singapore Telecommunications.

The company is also working with the Brazilian national postal service provider to serve a growing number of customers there. It last year teamed up with Correios, Brazil’s state-owned postal service provider, to shorten delivery time between the two countries.

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