(Reuters photo)China's JD.com Inc is in advanced talks with Central Group to launch an e-commerce joint venture in Thailand with a planned total investment of $500 million (16.7 billion baht), people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The joint venture with Central Group, owned by the billionaire Chirathivat family, Thailand's third-richest, will focus on e-commerce and finance sectors, one of the sources said. JD.com declined to comment on the joint venture and Central Group did not respond to requests for comment. The joint venture will be another attempt by Central Group to penetrate the country’s fast-growing e-commerce market, after it purchased the Thai arm of online fashion retailer Zalora last year. The same report estimated that the e-commerce market in Southeast Asia, a region of around 600 million, will soar 16-fold to $88 billion by 2025.

Source: Bangkok Post August 23, 2017 11:48 UTC