AXIATA UNIT RECEIVES RM250 MLN INVESTMENT FROM JAPAN'S SOFTBANK

KUALA  LUMPUR, May 11  -- Japan’s SoftBank Corp (SoftBank) is investing RM250 million in Axiata Group Bhd’s subsidiary ADA to expand and accelerate the Malaysian group’s analytics, data and artificial intelligence (AI) digital marketing business in the Southeast Asian region.

Axiata president and group chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Izzaddin Idris said SoftBank would hold 23.07 per cent shareholding in ADA, establishing ADA’s valuation at RM1.07 billion, while Axiata Digital Services would remain ADA’s majority shareholder with 63.47 per cent following the investment.

“Together with our existing Sumitomo partnership, we can expect this strategic alliance with SoftBank to further fuel ADA’s growth momentum within the region as it unlocks synergistic opportunities that will form one of the pillars to deliver on Axiata’s digital champion ambition,” he said at a virtual briefing on the business alliance between ADA and SoftBank today.

Izzadin said ADA, the largest independent digital, analytics, and marketing company in nine countries across South and Southeast Asia, was expected to benefit from the unlocking of significant global synergistic opportunities.

He said ADA currently served over 1,300 clients in the region and its revenue had tripled since its launch three years ago as well as recording positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation in the last two years.

“More brands than ever today in Asia are turning to data analytics and AI to differentiate their products and services in the highly competitive digital marketing industry.

“With this added business and capital boost, we are better placed to develop AI models for precision targeting, invest in content analytics and establish data platforms to deliver insights and help businesses pivot for growth,” he added.

SoftBank representative director and chairman Ken Miyauchi said since its public listing in 2018, the company had executed growth strategy by expanding into new business areas outside its core telecommunication business.

“This alliance with ADA heralds a new theme in this growth strategy as it will enable us to deploy our digital marketing business outside Japan by leveraging ADA’s presence in Asia as a leading data and AI company.

“We look forward to collaborating closely with the ADA team so we can help companies in the Asia-Pacific region accelerate the digital transformation of their businesses,” he said.

ADA CEO Srinivas Gattamneni said the post-COVID-19 norm was a “digital first” economy, which ADA had been successfully building towards.

“Hence the partnership with SoftBank added a valuable ally in our next phase of growth.

“The capital and business alliance with SoftBank will further propel ADA’s digital, analytics and marketing solutions to benefit our customers,” he added.

-- BERNAMA