Mitsui & Co invests in lifestyle and apparel retailer Triple

Tokyo-listed Mitsui & Co, one of Japan's largest general trading companies, has invested in local apparel retailer Triple Pte Ltd, both parties announced on Tuesday.

Mitsui & Co has taken a minority stake in Singapore-based Triple, an omni-channel sports and lifestyle retailer that operates brand stores, shop-in-shop operations, wholesale distribution and e-commerce in key South-east Asian countries.

"Triple sees Mitsui as a strong long-term strategic partner with good complementary strengths. Mitsui has a network of relations with brands that are not yet represented in South-east Asia, and with the wide business interests of Mitsui and Triple's rapid growth, there will be other areas of co-operation, including logistics," Triple's chief executive officer Michael Binger said, adding that the two parties also hope to use their partnership to fuel their e-commerce expansion.

"Mitsui's current strategy focuses on brand marketing in downstream sector, among which sports and lifestyle is the key category judging from the global trend," said Toshi Sakurai, general manager of the consumer service business department of Mitsui & Co (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd.

"Establishing the retail network in rapidly growing market such as South-east Asia is regarded as the key element to leverage this brand marketing strategy.