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Chinese ecommerce group JD.com has launched a takeover bid for German electronics retailer Ceconomy, in what could be one of the largest Chinese acquisitions in Europe in recent years.
The Beijing-based company said on Wednesday evening it had made a voluntary cash offer of €4.60 per Ceconomy share, with the German retailer’s management and supervisory board backing the proposed deal.
JD.com’s offer values Ceconomy’s equity at about €2.2bn. The bid represents a 23 per cent premium over Ceconomy’s share price immediately prior to media reports last week about JD.com being in takeover talks, the two companies said.
Ceconomy operates more than 1,000 stores across Europe under the MediaMarkt and Saturn brands, and generated €22.4bn in revenues in its 2023-24 financial year. About a quarter of its sales are online.
The proposed transaction would mark a rare return of large-scale Chinese deal making in Europe, which has declined sharply since its 2016 peak.
The acquisition would exceed Chinese technology group Tencent’s €1.5bn takeover of Polish video game maker Techland in 2024, according to data from Rhodium Group and Merics. It would rank as the largest Chinese transaction in the European retail industry in recent years.
To address regulatory and labour concerns, JD.com pledged to maintain Ceconomy’s corporate structure for at least five years and to avoid entering into “domination or profit-and-loss transfer agreements” for three years.
The Chinese group said it would respect existing works council and collective bargaining agreements at Ceconomy.
JD.com also committed to keeping a “strictly independent IT and technology stack”, in a move likely aimed at easing geopolitical tensions around Chinese ownership of sensitive infrastructure.
Kai-Ulrich Deissner, Ceconomy’s chief executive, said JD.com’s knowhow in logistics and technology would enable the German retailer to “further accelerate our successful growth trajectory and go beyond our current strategic goals”.
Sandy Xu, chief executive of JD.com, said the ambition was to “build Europe’s leading next-generation consumer electronics platform”, combining the Chinese group’s ecommerce strength with Ceconomy’s physical store presence and brand recognition.
Strategic Ceconomy investors, including Germany’s wealthy Beisheim and Haniel families, have agreed to sell a combined 32 per cent stake as part of the takeover. MediaMarkt founding family Kellerhals plans to retain a 25.4 per cent stake in Ceconomy.
JD.com, which competes with Chinese giants Alibaba and Meituan, already operates logistics hubs in the UK, France and Germany.
The company considered a bid for UK electronics retailer Currys, but withdrew its interest in March 2024.
