THE logistics arm of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has completed its first round of external fundraising since its creation in 2013, China’s biggest e-commerce company said yesterday.

    Investors in the funding round of Zhejiang Cainiao Supply Chain Management Co. include Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and GIC Pte Ltd., Malaysia’s Khazanah Nasional Bhd and China’s Primavera Capital, Alibaba said.

    Alibaba did not disclose details of how much money Cainiao raised, whether it issued equity shares, or at how much the logistics unit is now valued.

    Cainiao, which has grown as Alibaba developed a dominant position in Chinese e-commerce, handles more than 70 percent of the nation’s express packages with its network set to span 2,800 county districts inside the country and 224 countries and regions globally by March.

    The company is angling toward a public offering to bankroll its expansion, as its chief executive officer Tong Wenhong envisions the ability to support daily package deliveries of 200 million.

    “If e-commerce was the focus of China’s economy in the past 10 years, logistics will be the focus for the next 10,” Tong said in a statement yesterday.

    Alibaba created Cainiao with department store chain Intime Retail Group Co. and industrial conglomerate Fosun International Ltd. Alibaba owned 48 percent of Cainiao at the time.

    Cainiao had 700 employees as of June last year. The company runs its own warehouses while also operating as a network overseer, using software to marshal trucking, shipping and delivery firms to get packages from seller to buyer.

    (SD-Agencies)