Southeast Asian Business Roundup
Indonesia/Philippines
Indonesia’s first virtual personal assistant service YesBoss acquired
HeyKuya, a Philippines-based personal assistant service, in a bid for regional
expansion in early March.
HeyKuya, founded in October 2015, has been providing services ranging from food delivery to travel booking through SMS to over 15,000 customers.
With the acquisition, YesBoss has now become the largest on-demand personal assistance service in both Indonesia and the Philippines. YesBoss launched in June 2015, and has since then processed more than 100,000
requests.
Malaysia
Ranhill Holdings Bhd announced in March that its unit Ranhill (Yongxin) Water Co Ltd will invest 50 million yuan (about US$7.64 million) to build a 10-million-litre-per-day waste water treatment plant in the Yongxin County Industrial Development Zone, Ji’an City, Jiangxi province, China.
Ranhill Yongxin will take around 16 months to construct the facility and will hold a concession for 29 years after that.
Myanmar/Singapore
After a year of operation the vehicle aggregating startup, Hello Cabs is seeking US$2 million in investment. The money will be used to expand services to Nay Pyi Taw and Mandalay.
The startup is owned by Dagon Logistic Co Ltd, a joint venture between Yangon-based Strategic Development International Holdings Co Ltd (SDI), Singapore’s GAP VC and Yaung Ni Oo Co Ltd.
SDI is involved in trading, telecommunication and promoting of digital ventures while Yaung Ni Oo Co Ltd imports cars and has a traditional taxi service. It holds the majority stake in Hello Cabs.
There are currently 500 cabs registered with Hello Cab and they include taxis
driving around town, which have installed the application.
Vietnam/Singapore
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC recently purchased 45 million shares of Vietnam’s listed diversified Masan Group from Orchid Capital Investments.
The shares are equivalent to a six percent stake in Masan Group.
Orchid Capital sold the shares in March for 3.1 trillion dong (US$138.4 million) to GIC.
Singapore
The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), SPRING Singapore
and CapitaLand Mall Trust (CMT) Management Limited have teamed up to enhance last-mile delivery for retailers.
The three parties signed a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) to launch an In-Mall Distribution (IMD) trial expected to benefit 300 retailers.
If it is successful, the model may be rolled out to other shopping malls owned or managed by the CapitaLand Group in Singapore.
With two CapitaLand malls – Tampines Mall and Bedok Mall – as part of the
pilot project, the trial should provide useful insights into how to calibrate the logistics solution for wider implementation.
According to the IDA, if deployed nationwide, it could lead to a 25 percent reduction of trucks on the road and a cut in waiting and queuing time for deliveries by 65 per cent. The aim is to enable trucks with less-than-full loads to consolidate and sort their goods in an offsite centre before delivering to malls.
