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阿里亏损93亿出售银泰100%股权 雅戈尔投资再下一城

Alibaba lost 9.3 billion and sold 100% of its shares in Intime, while Youngor Group made another successful investment.

cls.cn ·  Dec 17, 2024 06:40

① Alibaba will sell 100% of the equity of Intime Department Store to a purchasing consortium composed of Youngor Group and members of the Intime management team. ② Youngor has strengthened its investment in physical business this year, opening 13 fashion experience stores offline. ③ Alibaba entered Intime in 2014 and gradually became the largest shareholder. As the New Retail progressed and then declined, Alibaba ultimately let go of Intime.

On December 17, the Financial Associated Press reported (by reporter Chen Kang) that the widely circulated news yesterday about "Alibaba selling its shares in Intime Department Store to Youngor" was confirmed today at noon.

Today, Alibaba announced that the company and another minority shareholder agreed to sell 100% of Intime Department Store's equity to a purchasing consortium composed of Youngor Group and members of the Intime management team, with Alibaba's total proceeds from the sale of Intime estimated to be about 7.4 billion yuan, and an expected loss of about 9.3 billion yuan recorded due to the sale of Intime.

Regarding the acquisition of Intime's equity, relevant personnel from Youngor Group responded to the Financial Associated Press reporter: "This group's joint investment in Intime with the Intime management team aims to 'strengthen the chain and complement the chain', improving the fashion ecosystem. After the investment is completed, Youngor Group will provide sufficient operational space for the Intime management team to support Intime's further high-quality development."

On December 16, rumors circulated that Youngor would acquire the shares of Intime Department Store held by Alibaba. The Financial Associated Press reporter inquired with Intime but did not receive a direct response. In fact, this is not the first time this news has surfaced; at the beginning of February this year, there were reports in the market that Alibaba planned to sell its department store and shopping center operator, Intime Commercial, to which neither Alibaba nor Intime responded.

What does Youngor find appealing?

Founded in 1979 and headquartered in Ningbo, Youngor Group is a leading enterprise in the national textile and clothing industry. The company started in the clothing industry and gradually ventured into Real Estate and investments, forming a "three-horse carriage" for Youngor's main business.

Youngor's investment business returns are an important source of the company's profits. In 2022, Youngor's long-term equity investments and other equity instrument investments included a total of 60 enterprises, covering ten listed companies including Bank Of Ningbo (002142.SZ), Ningbo Jintian Copper(Group) (601609.SH), CHICMAX (02145.HK), B-Soft Co.,Ltd. (300451.SZ), Jiangsu Boqian New Materials Stock (605376.SH), Zhongji United (605305.SH), and MIDEA REAL EST (03990.HK), spanning multiple fields such as finance, cosmetics, materials, and medical application software.

In the past two years, Youngor Group has strengthened its investment in the physical retail business. By the end of 2023, Youngor took over a core property of Shanghai Metersbonwe Fashion & Accessories located in Chengdu, with a transaction price of 0.68 billion yuan. This marks the fourth store acquired by Youngor from Metersbonwe, with a total of 1.3 billion yuan injected into Metersbonwe. This year, the HAI550 complex project on Huaihai Road in Shanghai, a collaboration between the two parties, officially opened.

On December 6th last year, Youngor Group Co., Ltd. changed its name to "Youngor Fashion Co., Ltd.", aiming to further focus on the fashion main business.

This year, Youngor continues to make significant advances in physical retail, opening 12 new fashion experience stores in the first three quarters, including in Changchun, Guiyang, Taiyuan, Wenzhou, Shanghai, and Wuhan among other major cities. These large stores are not only the flagship of Youngor's physical consumption but also attempt to become local fashion landmarks, such as the re-opened Youngor fashion experience store on Nanjing Road in Shanghai which invested tens of millions to create a naked-eye 3D giant screen.

At the investor communication event in November, the company stated that fashion experience stores are the base for exploring the deep integration of online and offline, enhancing member consumption experience, positively contributing to improving the company's brand strength and recognition in various key cities, and driving sales in other channels and regions.

Yintai Commercial Group has over 60 department stores and several projects waiting to open, achieving online sales through channels like Miao Street APP, "Yintai Department Store" Wechat Mini Program, and "Yintai Department Store" Alipay Mini Program, with digital members exceeding 40 million. These resources are certainly what Youngor values in promoting the integration of online and offline consumer experiences.

Why did Alibaba lose money in the sale?

In 1998, Shen Guojun founded Yintai Department Store (Wulin Store) in Hangzhou, covering various business formats including department stores and shopping centers. In 2007, Yintai Department Store was listed in Hong Kong with stock code 01833.HK. In 2013, Yintai Department Store (Group) Co., Ltd. was officially renamed Yintai Commercial (Group) Co., Ltd., and the following year began a ten-year integration path with Alibaba.

In March 2014, Alibaba Group and Yintai Commercial Group jointly announced that Alibaba Group would make a strategic investment of 5.37 billion HKD in Yintai Commercial, and both parties would construct a future commercial infrastructure system that connects online and offline, as well as establish a joint venture.

After the trade is completed, Alibaba Group will hold 9.9% of the shares of Intime Retail and approximately 3.71 billion Hong Kong dollars in convertible ​Bonds. Both parties agreed that within the next three years, under the premise of relevant laws and regulations allowing, Alibaba Group can convert the convertible ​Bonds into ordinary shares of Intime Retail, enabling Alibaba Group to ultimately maintain a holding ratio of no less than 25% in Intime Retail.

In 2015, new CEO Zhang Yong of Alibaba assumed the position of chairman of the Board of Directors of Intime Retail and also chaired the strategic development committee, stating that "Intime Retail's positioning is to undertake the mission of transforming and upgrading the online and offline retail department store platform." In July of that year, Alibaba held 28% of Intime Retail's equity, becoming the largest single shareholder.

In the wave of the Internet at that time, Intime, as a traditional department store retailer, chose to transform in a timely manner. After partnering with Alibaba, CEO of Intime Retail Group Chen Xiaodong stated, "Physical retail and the Internet must integrate and fully integrate, this is certain. Alibaba has Big Data and over a decade of online experience; after our cooperation, we will definitely develop faster."

In 2016, Intime Retail Group announced that it accepted Alibaba's share swap notice. Alibaba, through its indirectly wholly-owned subsidiary The Libra Capital Greater China Fund Limited, held shares in Intime Retail. Along with the holdings from then Alibaba vice-chairman Cai Chongxin and Alibaba Group, the total shareholding ratio reached 27.90%, making it the largest shareholder of Intime Retail. The shareholding ratio of Intime's founder and former chairman Shen Guojun's family dropped from 21.87% to 17.56%.

In 2016, Jack Ma officially proposed the "New Retail" strategy, which is a "data-driven pan-retail format centered on consumer experience." As cooperation deepened, both Alibaba and Intime grew increasingly confident in the direction of the new reforms. A year later, Alibaba officially acquired Intime Retail for a total of 19.8 billion Hong Kong dollars, with an acquisition premium exceeding 40%.

In January 2017, Intime Retail announced that Alibaba's wholly-owned subsidiary Alibaba Investment Limited, together with Shen Guojun's wholly-owned company, would privatize Intime, with the transaction amount reaching 19.8 billion Hong Kong dollars (approximately 17.7 billion yuan).

That year, Intime's membership system was connected with Alibaba's Tmall and Alipay's Big Data, and all 50 offline stores achieved digitization. Over the years, various elements such as Miaojie, Miaoke, Miaohuo, Xiyou, Xixuan, Jihuo, and Injunior appeared on Intime's chessboard.

The binding between Alibaba and Intime is closely related to the advancement of Alibaba's New Retail strategy. Both parties' vision is to truly link online and offline channels through data, enhance the offline shopping experience, and transform physical retail. However, after 2018, "New Retail" gradually receded, and "live-stream e-commerce" rapidly rose, ending everyone's beautiful imagination. Subsequently, Zhang Yong, a key promoter of Alibaba's "New Retail" strategy, departed, leading to new investments and shifts.

In the eyes of Intime, the "New Retail" strategy still has practical value. At the end of last year, Chen Xiaodong stated in a media interview that getting as close to consumers as possible is the key to capturing the market. To innovate and transform retail with a consumer-centric approach, digitalization is essential. "Intime Department Store is digitizing the most valuable parts of physical retail, online and offline retail integration, and more."

The translation is provided by third-party software.


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