Thailand’s largest retail conglomerate Central Group on January 31 confirmed that it will invest 200 million USD in Singapore-based ride-hailing application Grab.

Illustrative image (Source: internet)

Central Group, which owns department stores, restaurants, and hotel chains in Thailand, said it will acquire a significant non-controlling stake in Grab’s Thai entity.

CEO of the group Tos Chirathivat said the investment will give his company's stores and hotels access to customers wherever they are.

Grab has built a new platform which consists of food delivery, payment and other services. Therefore, the two sides could collaborate to deliver the group’s products to customers, he added.

Grab CEO and co-founder Anthony Tan said the deal brings together Thailand's "local retail champion" with the "local technology champion", and would cement the service's position as Thailand's "everyday app".

Grab is the leading ride-sharing firm in Southeast Asia. In 2018, it bought the region’s market shares from Uber.

The company has big ambitions of hooking the region's consumers on its app and entering joint ventures with major retail players.

Southeast Asia's ride-hailing market is expected to reach 20 billion USD by 2025, according to research by Google and Temasek.

(Source: VNA)