, APAC

Weekly News Wrap: Alibaba’s shares rise after Jack Ma’s reappearance; Arbitrators junk Future's plea on Reliance deal

And India-based Rebel Foods will roll out 2,000 outlets across Asia in a Foodpanda tie-up.

From CNBC

Alibaba's Hong Kong shares rallied as much as 9% on 20 October following reports that its founder Jack Ma traveled to Europe and after the release of a new chip. The stock pared some of those gains and closed 6.6% higher.

Hong Kong-based publication East Week reported that Ma had traveled to Spain over the weekend with his billionaire friends and business partners for a sailing vacation. The report cited a source that could not be named due to confidentiality considerations.

The South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba, later published an article reporting Ma was in Spain for an agriculture and technology study tour related to environmental issues.

Read more here.

From Reuters

A Singapore arbitration panel has rejected Future Retail's plea to quash an order from last year that put its $3.4b deal with Reliance on hold, in a boost for its partner Amazon.com which is seeking to block the transaction.

Amazon has been locked in a tussle with Future and accuses it of breaking contracts when it sold its retail assets to Indian market leader Reliance last year. Future denies any wrongdoing.

After the Singapore arbitrator put the deal on hold in October 2020 in an interim decision, Future had appealed to revoke it. The panel has rejected that application, Future said in a statement to Indian stock exchanges on Friday.

Read more here.

From Reuters

Online takeaway delivery firm Foodpanda is partnering with Indian virtual kitchen company Rebel Foods to roll out the latter’s virtual restaurant brands at 2,000 outlets across ten Asian countries, Foodpanda’s chief operating officer said.

“Foodpanda is Asia’s largest food delivery company... while Rebel Foods is the largest virtual brands operator in the world,” COO Pedram Assadi told Reuters. “This is the largest virtual food brand partnership of its kind.”

Under the deal, Foodpanda, which is owned by Berlin-based Delivery Hero, has recruited and trained hundreds of outlets to franchise the global restaurant brands created by Rebel Foods and offer their food on its platform.

Mumbai-based Rebel Foods, which offers multiple cloud kitchen brands across countries including India and the United Arab Emirates, raised $175m this month at a $1.4b valuation.

Read more here.

Follow the link s for more news on

Swarovski menguasai TikTok untuk perluas skala luxury di kalangan Gen Z

Produsen Kristal asal Austria ini bekerja sama dengan influencer untuk menjangkau pasar Singapura.

Dear Me Beauty berencana membuka flagship store

Store ini dapat menjadi fondasi bagi pertumbuhan pasar yang lebih luas.

Kawan Lama Indonesia mengaburkan batas antara belanja online dan offline

Pengunjung  platform e-commerce grup, Ruparupa.

‘Shoppertainment’ TikTok mendorong kesuksesan mega sale

Video di platform ini digunakan tidak hanya untuk hiburan, tetapi juga untuk mendorong e-commerce.

Mars Wrigley bertaruh akan booming cokelat di Asia

Perusahaan AS ini memperkirakan kelas menengah yang tumbuh di kawasan ini akan mengonsumsi lebih banyak M&M’s dan Snickers.

Food Innovators menghadirkan restoran bertema ‘Anime’ di Singapura

CEO Kubota Yasuaki berharap Singapura menjadi gerbang menuju negara-negara Asia lainnya.

Brand didorong untuk lebih transparan dalam perawatan kecantikan

Konsumen semakin cermat dan mudah mengenali klaim bahan yang palsu.

Starbucks Korea membuka gerai berteknologi tinggi di Seoul

Gerai khusus reserve pertama ini menampilkan instalasi seni AR dan Mixology Bar.

Decathlon semakin dekat dengan konsumen hybrid Singapura melalui layanan pengambilan pesanan

Peritel perlengkapan olahraga terbesar di dunia kini memungkinkan shopper mengambil pesanan daring mereka sambil bepergian.