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Lazada expands Taobao reach in SE Asia

Online retailer Lazada Group said it will sell select items from Alibaba Group Holding’s Taobao marketplace in three more countries in Southeast Asia, expanding the partnership between the two e-commerce companies.

Taobao Collection will be offered in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand in the next few weeks through Lazada’s platform, it said in a statement on Monday.

Lazada began selling Taobao products in Singapore and Malaysia earlier this year.

In June, Alibaba invested an additional $1 billion in Lazada to boost its stake to 83 percent.

The products are chosen to appeal to local tastes in each country and will be offered in the local languages on the Lazada sites, the company said.

China Mobile eyes Brazil telecom operator

China’s major telecom operator China Mobile is considering a buyout of its counterpart in Brazil, known as Oi, and the Chinese company is expected to have a meeting in Sao Paulo this month, media reported on Monday.

On June 20, 2016, Oi filed a request for bankruptcy, the largest in Brazil’s history, with a liability of 65 billion reais ($20.7 billion), the Macao-based newspaper Macau Daily Times reported on Monday, citing Brazilian magazine Exame.

The Chinese company opened an office in Sao Paulo last week that will be the business center of the telecommunications company in Latin America, according to company officials, the report noted.