Alibaba invests $845M in Lazada's Southeast Asia division

Lazada is part of an international online shopping arm that Alibaba is potentially planning to list in the US

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has invested $845 million in Lazada, its online retail business in Southeast Asia, which is facing increasing competition from companies such as Sea Ltd. and Amazon.com Inc.

The capital injection, disclosed in a Singapore regulators report on Wednesday, raises the total amount Alibaba has invested in the unit to several billion dollars since it took control of the business in 2016. Alibaba and Lazada representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

Chinese tech giant Alibaba is splitting into six parts to spur the growth of various business lines, including e-commerce, logistics and cloud technology.

In 2022, Alibaba discussed raising at least $1 billion for Lazada before canceling talks with potential investors when talks over its valuation stalled. It was aimed at securing funding as a precursor to the spin-off. Alibaba has since put the fundraising on hold and instead invested more in the company.