Suning completes acquisition of Carrefour China for $698 mln

(ECNS) -- Chinese e-commerce giant Suning announced on Friday it has completed acquisition of Carrefour Group’s local operations.

The French hypermarket operator agreed to sell an 80 percent stake in its China unit for 4.8 billion yuan ($698 million) in cash to the retail unit of Suning Holdings Group Ltd, according to a statement on June 23.

With a presence in China dating back to 1995, Carrefour China operates a network of 210 hypermarkets and 24 convenience stores across 51 cities. In 2018, it generated net sales of 28.5 billion yuan.

Zhang Jindong, chairman of Suning, said earlier that the acquisition benefits the two companies by leveraging their resources for better development. Carrefour stores can be transformed to be digital and tech savvy to improve integration of online and offline retail businesses. 

The Nanjing-based appliance vendor has been seeking to expand its customer base and logistics network. It has already purchased DIA's convenience stores in China and the department stores of Wanda Group, a giant Chinese commercial real estate developer.