KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 31): Grab Holdings Ltd has completed its acquisition of a majority stake in Jaya Grocer Holdings Sdn Bhd, a leading mass-premium supermarket chain in Malaysia.
In a statement on Monday (Jan 31), Southeast Asia's biggest ride-hailing and delivery firm also announced the roll-out of GrabPay and GrabRewards across all Jaya Grocer physical retail stores, expanding usage of Grab's popular cashless wallet.
"The acquisition comes at a time of accelerated growth in on-demand grocery delivery services. Prolonged movement restrictions and consumer concerns about safety and hygiene have led to a boom in adoption of online grocery shopping," it said.
Grab added that the online grocery sector in Southeast Asia is estimated to grow to US$50 billion (RM209 billion) in gross merchandise value — the size of the entire e-commerce market today — at a 10% penetration rate similar to advanced markets.
Commenting on the acquisition, Grab group chief executive officer and co-founder Anthony Tan said it is the company's vision to make on-demand groceries more accessible for everyone.
"By combining our extensive on-demand delivery fleet and capabilities, with Jaya Grocer's strong retail presence and supplier network, we can have these quality products delivered to more homes even faster.
"We believe this partnership will further accelerate the growth of our grocery delivery business, and we are excited by the immense opportunity ahead of us," he said in a statement.
In December last year, The Edge reported that Grab was buying over premium supermarket chain Jaya Grocer in a deal said to be worth up to RM1.8 billion, as part of its expansion into the grocery segment.