REUTERS: Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said yesterday it agreed to buy a controlling stake in online retailer Lazada for about US $ 1 billion to expand its platform into Southeast Asia.

Alibaba would invest about US $ 500 million in newly issued Lazada shares and acquire shares from shareholders of Lazada for a total of about US $ 1 billion.
Lazada operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. In a separate announcement, Britain’s biggest supermarket operator Tesco PLC said it agreed to sell an 8.6 percent stake in Lazada to Alibaba for US $ 129 million.