Central Group plans to invest in a significant stake in GrabTaxi Thailand, the local operating unit of Grab Southeast Asia, to gain customer data and improve its customer services through integration of Grab's digital payment and food delivery business.
Central will be the first local firm to invest in Grab's Thai unit. Grab Southeast Asia has Didi Chuxing and Softbank as lead investors.
Bloomberg cited a source indicating that the deal is worth US$200 million.
Central's investment enlarges its customer base and diversifies its business in the high-growth sectors of transport and digital payment, said an executive who is familiar with Central Group.
Central and Grab will announce their partnership today.
Michael Yeo, senior research manager of IDC Financial Insight, said Central started its online investments in 2016 with Zalora (which has been scrapped and relaunched as Looksi.com), followed by a joint venture with JD.com.
"I would expect Central to look for further acquisitions or partnerships, such as perhaps gaming, to add to their online portfolio," Mr Yeo said.
Grab and Central will be able to transfer data and information to each other. Grab has a huge amount of information on people's movement and behaviour, while Central has a huge amount of data on retail trends.
If the two work together, they could be able to find new business models or services that tap both markets, Mr Yeo said.
Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, founder of Tarad.com and an e-commerce pioneer, said Central's joint venture with JD.com covers e-wallet and data analytics technology, staying in the e-commerce field.
Central's investment in Grab will give the company customer insight that can cross over into promoting purchases in the retail and transport sectors, Mr Pawoot said.