Suning.com buys 80% of Carrefour's business in China

In this file photo taken on January 27, 2011 a man carrying his bags of groceries steps out of a Carrefour store in Beijing. [Photo: AFP/ Frederic J. BROWN]

Suning.com, a leading retailer in China said on Sunday it had agreed to buy 80 percent of Carrefour's business in China. Carrefour Group will retain a 20-percent stake in the business and two seats out of seven on Carrefour China’s Supervisory Board.

The transaction, which will be paid in cash, values Carrefour China at an enterprise value of 1.4 billion euros (about 1.59 billion U.S. dollars), and is expected to close by the end of 2019, pending regulatory approvals.

The logo of leading Chinese retailer Suning.com. [File photo: IC]

With a presence in China dating back to 1995, Carrefour China operates 210 hypermarkets and 24 convenience stores. It generated net sales of 3.6 billion euros and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of 66 million euros in 2018.

Suning.com operates a network of over 8,881 stores in more than 700 cities and runs China's third largest B2C e-commerce platform.