Suning to acquire all Wanda department stores
CGTN
["china"]
Suning.com will acquire all 37 Wanda Department Stores, Zhang Jindong, chairman of Suning.com, announced Tuesday. The cost of the purchase has not been disclosed.
Suning.com is one of China's largest retailers and this purchase is expected to enhance its online-and-offline retail businesses.
Almost all Wanda Department Stores nationwide are located in the downtown areas of first- and second-tier cities, and have a membership of four million consumers.
This is Wanda's latest reduction to its non-core businesses. According to its annual report, by the end of 2014, Wanda opened a total of 99 stores, but by November 2015, the number of stores had been cut to half.
The agreement is the second involving Wanda and Suning since the beginning of last year. Tencent Holdings partnered with Suning Commerce Group, JD.com and Sunac China Holdings to buy a 14 percent stake in Wanda Commercial Properties for 34 billion yuan in January last year.