Charlene Bui ’26 presented Sea Limited (NYSE: SE) to the Student Managed Investment Fund on December 1st, 2025.
Sea Limited (NYSE: SE) is a Singapore-based operator of Southeast Asia’s leading digital ecosystem, built around three interconnected platforms: Shopee (e-commerce), Garena (digital entertainment), and Monee (financial services). These businesses collectively support ASEAN’s digital economy through a unified commerce, payments, and entertainment infrastructure.
Charlene’s investment thesis emphasized Sea’s ecosystem integration, regulatory execution, and strengthened financial discipline. Shopee’s dominant regional scale is reinforced by Monee’s embedded payments and credit products and by SPX Express’s expanding first-party logistics network, which together create high switching costs and deepen Sea’s data advantage. Sea also distinguishes itself through its ability to navigate Southeast Asia’s fragmented regulatory landscape, maintaining key licenses while tailoring operations to diverse local markets. Internally, Sea has reached a more resilient operating profile: Shopee is consistently contribution profitable, Monee maintains a US$7bn+ loan book with ~1.1% 90-day NPLs, SPX is approaching breakeven logistics economics, and Garena bookings have stabilized. These developments align with what Charlene identified as ASEAN’s “golden age of consumption,” marked by accelerating household spending and rapid adoption of digital payments and embedded credit.
SMIF voted to initiate a US$36,000 position in Sea Limited, acquiring 260 shares.
To fund the investment, the committee trimmed 250 shares of TJX, which is trading near all-time highs. This reallocation locks in gains from a mature U.S. retailer while increasing the portfolio’s exposure to emerging markets, where Sea offers ecosystem scale and long-term structural growth potential.
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