Eva Chin writes for RECATOOLS on business and commerce in Southeast Asia: the commercial decisions small businesses actually face, and the markets and regulation around them. She also covers Chinese naming and cultural practice, education and qualifications across the region, and the arithmetic of a tropical home. Coverage of cultural practice is educational — it explains what a tradition holds and where it came from, and does not make predictive claims.

194
Articles
Business
Primary beat
Jul 2026
Writing since
~1230 min
Total reading

Articles · Business Showing 21–30 of 125

Espresso pouring from a machine spout into a white cup
Business

Jollibee Sold 11 Per Cent of Highlands Coffee, Giving the Founder Majority Control

The buyer is the founder's own company, which rises to 51 per cent. The price values the Vietnamese chain at about US$800m, and a listing is planned for early 2027.

26 Sep 2026 · 5 min read
Banknotes from several different countries spread out together
Business

Indonesia and Hong Kong Talk QR Payments That Bypass the Dollar

The memorandum is exploratory, with no timetable and no pilot. What it actually rests on appears in the Indonesian reporting and not in the English.

25 Sep 2026 · 4 min read
The skyline of Ho Chi Minh City at dusk, seen across the river
Business

Vietnam Got Its FTSE Upgrade and the VN-Index Fell

Index funds must now hold Vietnamese stocks, and the weight arrives in four steps to September 2027. Vanguard talks of 2.5 billion dollars; its estimated first day was 240.5 million.

22 Sep 2026 · 5 min read
Six glass milk bottles standing on a brick windowsill in monochrome
Business

Ultrajaya Buys Frisian Flag and Loses Control of Itself

A Rp14.57 trillion share issue hands FrieslandCampina the largest single holding in the company buying its Indonesian dairy business.

21 Sep 2026 · 5 min read
Machinery on a factory floor with daylight falling through high windows
Business

A Korean Chipmaker Lost $9.3m in Vietnam. That Was the Small Problem.

The subsidiary reported a net loss of KRW85.7 billion on KRW174 billion of revenue, and the parent injected capital two months later.

20 Sep 2026 · 5 min read
Traffic on a multi-lane Singapore expressway at dusk, with a landscaped central divider
Business

Singapore Welcomed Waymo and Capped How Fast It Can Deploy

The transport minister counted the jobs it would create. His own road authority said driverless cars will not arrive faster than displaced drivers can be retrained.

19 Sep 2026 · 5 min read
A rider in a yellow jacket on an electric scooter waits in a busy street as pedestrians pass behind
Business

Grab Paid $1.49bn for a Lending Business It Chose Not to Build

The cash is only half the arrangement. What the remaining 40 per cent will cost has already been fixed by a formula, floor and cap included, years before anyone pays it.

19 Sep 2026 · 6 min read
A shopkeeper in an apron holds out a card terminal while a customer taps a phone against it, shelves of pottery behind them
Business

Ant International's 89.5% AI Adoption Claim Has No Audit

The adoption figures are precise to a decimal place and every one is the company's own. The headline product is an account built for software to spend without a person approving it.

18 Sep 2026 · 6 min read
A hand holding a blank payment card above a card terminal on an orange surface
Business

SBI Group Anchors the Final Round of dtcpay's US$25 Million Series A

Japan's SBI Group takes a position in a licensed Singapore stablecoin payments firm. Volume, merchants, revenue and valuation all went undisclosed.

18 Sep 2026 · 5 min read
Workers in hairnets at sewing machines on a garment factory floor, with stacks of folded fabric on trolleys
Business

Malaysia's minimum wage sets three daily rates, not one

RM1,700 a month is the headline, but the same order sets a daily rate that rises as the working week shortens — RM78.46 for a five-day employee, not the RM65.38 that dividing by 26 produces. Its hourly rate also sits above the one the Employment Act's own formula gives.

18 Sep 2026 · 6 min read
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