JD and Central Group establish joint ventures

An employee works at a JD.com logistic center in Langfang, Hebei province, November 10, 2015.[Photo/Agencies]

JD.com Inc, China's second biggest e-commerce player, JD Finance, Thailand's largest retail conglomerate Central Group and Provident Capital announced on Friday an aggregate investment of up to $500 million to establish two joint ventures in Thailand covering e-commerce and financial tech services.

Under the terms of the agreement, half of the investment will come from Central Group, with the remainder coming from JD, JD Finance and Provident Capital - which is also JD's strategic partner for its Indonesian e-commerce business.

JD.com will provide its extensive expertise in technology, e-commerce and logistics to the joint venture. Meanwhile, the venture will benefit from JD Finance's deep knowledge in the financial technology sector.

Central Group will leverage its immense retail resources, including its physical store network, its wealth of brand and merchant relationships, as well as retail behavior insights from its hugely popular customer loyalty program, "The 1 Card." The company will open multiple flagship stores on the e-commerce platform for its department stores and key retail chains, as well as for select brands owned or operated by Central Group.

"Thailand's large population and developed infrastructure, including strong national logistics networks, give it tremendous potential for both e-commerce and fintech services," said Liu Qiangdong, JD's chairman and CEO. "Working with Thailand's strongest retail conglomerate, with a massive shopping mall and department store network, gives us a huge competitive advantage as we expand further into Southeast Asia."

"Thailand's mobile-driven population, with its increasing consumer spending power, means that e-commerce is ready to explode," said Tos Chirathivat, Chief Executive Officer of Central Group."This partnership is poised to capture the country's consumers as they migrate online."