Chinese e-commerce group JD.com looks set to acquire a German electronics retail giant, both sides said, in a 2.2-billion euro deal that would boost the Chinese group鈥檚 presence in Europe.
The Chinese company said in a statement late Wednesday it had signed a deal with Ceconomy, the parent company of two major retailers, MediaMarkt and Saturn.
The retailers have a network of more than 1,000 electronics stores, many of them in Germany but also in several other European countries, as well as online sales platforms. The two chains have some 50,000 employees.
Ceconomy said in a state-ment that its management intends to recommend that shareholders accept the offer.
鈥楾his partnership with Ceconomy will build Europe鈥檚 leading next-generation consumer electronics platform,鈥� said Sandy Xu, CEO of JD.com, which competes with the likes of Alibaba and Temu.
The two sides said JD.com is offering Ceconomy shareholders 4.60 euros per share, a hefty premium over the average share price in the last three months, meaning the Chinese group will pay around 2.2 billion euros (2.5 billion dollars) for the acquisition.