Central catches Grab in Bt6 bn deal
CENTRAL Group is investing Bt6 billion in Grab Thailand in expectation that the provision of new services from the tie-up will help to boost revenue growth by up to 15 per cent over five years and advance the goal of the Thailand 4.0 vision.
Tos Chirathivat, chief executive of Central Group, said that the retail giant is acquiring a significant stake in Grab Thailand with the investment of US$200 million (Bt6 billion). The company sees the stake purchase as helping to drive the growth of tourism in the country and better integrate the retail and services industries, Tos said.
“Grab is a fast growing online-to-offline (O2O) platform, which has scaled up impressively in Southeast Asia. We look forward to collaborating together to deliver more value to Central and Grab customers, partners and merchants,” Tos said.
Anthony Tan, chief executive and co-founder of Grab, said that Bangkok was the third big city that Singapore-based Grab had expanded into, after Kuala Lumpur and Manila, in the region. The special partnership with Central Group will accelerate Thailand’s development into a digital economy, as promoted under the government-sponsored Thailand 4.0 plan, Tan said.
He said the firm’s services in Thailand range from ride-hailing and food to parcel and grocery deliveries, creating opportunities for hundreds of thousands of micro-entrepreneurs.
The company’s services have also brought income opportunities for merchants and its driver-partners, Tos said.
“For the collaboration, we can help their customers and merchants move from offline to online via our platform. It can enhance the experience for Central's merchants, customers and tourist visitors,” said Tan.
Yol Phokasub, president of Central Group, said that the Bt6 billion investment in Grab comes under its investment budget of Bt50 billion for this year. The group is focused on becoming digital lifestyle platform in Thailand.
The collaboration will allow all food shops in Central department stores to provide delivery services via the Grab application. At a later stage, the company will provide e-wallet and cash-on-delivery services for customers.
Yol said that the tie-up with Grab formed part of the group’s efforts to increase revenue growth by 12-15 per cent from 2018 to 2022.
Grab Thailand plans to provide e-payment and other financial services, such as micro-finance, to support the needs of its drivers. Its ride-hailing platform covers 18 cities in 16 provinces.
The firm will expand its service to cover five more provinces by the end of this year. The firm last year provided 100,000 trips per day and delivered 3 million meals. Grab Food’s business expanded by 40 times.
