Malaysia-headquartered used car platform Carsome is said to have acquired a 51 percent stake in CarTimes Group, a Singapore-based used car dealer and parallel importer, Business Times reported on Wednesday.
Quoting sources, the local media reported that the deal is half in cash and half in shares and believed to be worth around $60 million.
Regulatory filings showed that on Mar 7, CarTimes Managing Director Eddie Loo transferred 408,000 ordinary shares in the company to Carsome Group, Malaysia’s first tech unicorn. Loo, who founded the company, still owns the remaining 49 percent of CarTimes.
Carsome and CarTimes have yet to respond to TechNode Global‘s query at press time.
Established in 2001, CarTimes Group provides a full-suite of solutions, from retail, rental, insurance and workshop servicing, information from its website showed.
The news comes as Carsome is said to be preparing for an initial public offering in the US later of the year. Last week, Carsome has appointed its Head of Merger and Acquisition and Ecosystem Strategy. Investing in CarTimes could also help Carsome to compete with its rival Carro, another Southeast Asian used car platform headquartered in Singapore.
Carro claims to be Singapore’s number one car marketplace that offers a full-stack service for all aspects of car ownership. Besides buying and selling of new and used cars online, Carro also offer car loans, car repair and maintenance services at its workshop.
Founded in 2015, Carsome provides end-to-end solutions to consumers and used car dealers, from car inspection to ownership transfer to financing, promising a service that is trusted, convenient and efficient. It transacts more than 100,000 cars on an annualized basis, which translates to around $1 billion in revenue. It has expanded into Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.
In January, Carsome announced the completion of its $290 million Series E round, increasing the company’s valuation to approximately $1.7 billion.
Featured photo credit: CarTimes