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Chinese food delivery giant Meituan (3690) pledged to invest US$1 billion (HK$7.8 billion) in Brazil for five years with its overseas brand Keeta, aiming to tap into the market of the South American country.

Meituan signed the investment agreement at the China-Brazil Business Seminar held in Beijing, witnessed by the President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and the Meituan chairman and chief executive Wang Xing.

Wang Xing said Brazil is a very large market with huge potential and the company will stick to internationalization, one of its long-term development strategies.

According to the investment agreement, Keeta will build a national real-time delivery network in the country to bring better takeaway services to users, and will also provide local partners with integrated services, diversified marketing tools and digital operation tools to support the business growth of local food and beverage merchants.

Keeta has also tapped into Hong Kong and the Middle East in the past two years. This new investment agreement also comes as Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com (9618) intensified the domestic market competition by launching price wars.

Shares of Meituan, however, slid 4.1 percent to HK$138.60 by noon in Hong Kong.

STAFF REPORTER

Meituan pledges US$1 billion in Brazil via Keeta expansion