Mergers and acquisitions are often important ways for many companies to face business transformation and upgrading. Some enterprises have achieved business diversification through mergers and acquisitions or shareholding. It is worth mentioning that some companies have even changed the market competition pattern by bringing competitors under their command. Undoubtedly, it has become the norm in market competition to expand the business and enhance the development momentum of enterprises through mergers and acquisitions. Looking back at 2022, there will be many mergers and acquisitions events in the e-commerce field.
1. JD Logistics acquired Deppon Logistics
On September 7, 2022, Deppon shares issued an announcement stating that a subsidiary of JD Logistics has completed the share liquidation and transfer procedures for the tender offer to acquire Deppon shares. This also marks that JD Logistics has fully completed the transfer of control of Deppon Holdings. In the previous March, JD Logistics announced that it would acquire 66.49% of Deppon shares at a price of ¥8.976 billion, and at the same time issued a comprehensive offer to other Deppon shareholders except Deppon Holdings. According to the announcement, after the completion of the relevant transaction, Deppon Holdings will become a subsidiary of JD Logistics, and its financial performance will be incorporated into the group’s accounts before the completion of the business sale.
2. Daily Fresh was acquired by ¥30 million
In August 2022, the Daily Fresh retail convenience store business was finally acquired at a price of $30 million, and the acquirer was Shenzhen Daily Convenience Technology Co., Ltd. At the time of the acquisition, Daily Fresh had 14,000 devices, of which about 8,000 were in operation, equivalent to ¥2,142 per device. Some people in the industry believe that this is an extremely cost-effective acquisition. Shenzhen Daily Convenience Technology Co., Ltd. does not need to expand stations and can have a stable cash flow if it operates a good product.
3. Baozun e-commerce acquires Gap’s business in China
In November 2022, Baozun E-commerce announced that it will acquire China’s business of the international clothing brand Gap in an all-cash transaction. It is reported that this acquisition includes two operating entity companies of Gap, namely Gap Shanghai and Gap Taiwan. According to the agreement, Baozun e-commerce will obtain exclusive authorization from Gap to produce, promote and sell Gap products through all channels in China, and also has the right to design products in China. Baozun E-commerce is an e-commerce service provider that provides e-commerce agent operation services for brands and retailers, including website construction, update and hosting, and digital marketing. The gap opened its first store in China in 2010, with more than 200 stores and nearly 30 million members. After the acquisition of Baozun e-commerce, Gap’s business in Greater China will return to stability.
4. Two of the world’s largest luxury e-commerce companies announced their merger
On August 24, 2022, the Swiss Richemont Group announced that it had reached an agreement with the British luxury e-commerce company and the UAE investment fund Symphony Global. Farfetch and Symphony Global have respectively acquired 47.5% and 3.2% stakes in Yoox Net-a-Porter (YNAP), a luxury e-commerce company under the Richemont Group. According to the agreement, brands under the Richemont Group will use Farfetch technology as an online e-commerce solution and open franchised sales stations on the Farfetch platform. In the long run, Richemont will receive about 53 million to 58.5 million ordinary Class A shares of Farfetch. Five years after the transaction is completed, Richemont is expected to receive an equivalent of $250 million in Farfetch equity. During the Covid-19, Richemont Group stated that the importance of online channels has been proven, and it will be the key to the group’s growth in the future. It is reported that in October 2018, Alibaba Group and Richemont Group signed a global strategic cooperation agreement to introduce luxury e-commerce YNAP to the Chinese market.
5. YQNLink acquires cross-border e-commerce service provider COPE
On June 6, YQNLink, an international logistics digital platform, announced that it has completed the acquisition of COPE, a cross-border e-commerce logistics brand. Through this acquisition, YQNLink will further deepen the service capability of the last mile of the cross-border e-commerce supply chain, and strengthen the service advantage of the integration of head warehouse and distribution. The YQNLink platform was launched in February 2015. By combining digital technologies such as e-commerce, big data, and artificial intelligence with traditional international logistics, it provides international logistics and transportation services for enterprises. COPE was born in North America. It is a cross-border e-commerce logistics company focusing on medium and large-sized items and multi-channel fulfillment. COPE has covered more than 80% of the medium and large-sized items sales market in the United States through large-scale overseas warehouse deployment and intelligent transportation capacity scheduling. It is a logistics service provider for cross-border e-commerce platform sellers such as Amazon and Walmart.
6. TIZA Information, a cross-border e-commerce stock, officially changed its name to Youkeshu Technology
On November 10, TIZA Information, a listed cross-border e-commerce company, announced that the company changed its name to Youkeshu Technology Co., Ltd. This activity is conducive to reflecting the composition of the company’s main business and highlighting the corporate brand of Youkeshu. It is reported that TIZA Information was established in 2000 and listed on the A-share market in 2011. Before that, its main business mainly involved the Internet. In 2017, TIZA Information announced that it would purchase a 99.99% stake in Shenzhen Youkeshu Technology Co., Ltd., a cross-border e-commerce company, by issuing shares and paying cash at a price of ￥3.4 billion. In 2019, TIZA Information completed a major asset reorganization, and Xiao Siqing, the actual controller of Youkeshu, became the second largest shareholder of TIZA Information, holding 11.57% of the shares of the listed company. From March 2019, TIZA Information will include Youkeshu in the scope of the company’s consolidated statements, and the cross-border e-commerce business has also become TIZA Information’s main source of revenue, and Youkeshu’s performance has contributed as much as 90%. In 2021, due to the impact of Amazon’s banning account activity, TIZA Information’s performance will fluctuate. In related equity acquisitions, TIZA Information received multiple regulatory letters due to insufficient disclosure of information.
