China's JD.com Completes Takeover of Germany's Ceconomy, Securing a 59.8% Stake and 85.2% Combined Voting Power
JD.com, the Chinese e-commerce company, announced on November 12 that it has completed its voluntary public takeover offer for Ceconomy, the German consumer electronics retail group. Through the offer, JD.com secured about 59.8% of Ceconomy's share capital and voting rights at an offer price of EUR 4.60 per share in cash, valuing Ceconomy's equity at about EUR 2.2 billion. JD.com filed a Form 6-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission the same day to report the completion.
Convergenta, the investment company of Ceconomy's founding family, is retaining a stake of about 25.35%, and under a shareholder agreement the voting rights attached to that stake are attributed to JD.com, giving the two sides a combined holding of about 85.2%. Ceconomy is headquartered in Duesseldorf, Germany, and operates the MediaMarkt and Saturn consumer electronics brands, with more than 1,000 stores in 11 European countries and about 50,000 employees.
All closing conditions for the offer were satisfied on November 3, when the European Commission granted conditional approval under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation. JD.com committed for 10 years to conduct intra-group transactions with Ceconomy, including financing, on market terms, and to open its warehousing, logistics and technology services to third-party retailers on the same terms, with compliance monitored by an independent trustee under the Commission's supervision. GSM reported the EU approval on November 3; this announcement marks the formal completion of the transaction.
Related: EU Commission Conditionally Approves JD.com's Acquisition of Germany's Ceconomy
Source: JD.com, Inc
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Ceconomy 旗下 MediaMarkt 位于西班牙 Barcelona 的一家门店。Jordiferrer 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: A MediaMarkt store, part of Ceconomy, in Barcelona, Spain. Photo by Jordiferrer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.