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Oct 19, 2020 - Economy

Alibaba spends more than $3 billion for majority stake in Sun Art

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An illustration of a bag of groceries covered by a giant cursor all against a yellow background.

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios Visuals

Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) will pay $3.6 billion to acquire a control stake in Chinese hypermarket operator Sun Art Retail Group (HK: 6808), increasing its equity position from 21% to 72%.

Why it matters: This comes against the backdrop of China's economy growing by an official 4.6% in Q3, year-over-year, which isn't too far below projections made before the pandemic began.

  • The bottom line: "All of Sun Art’s 484 physical retail locations in China are now integrated into Alibaba’s Taoxianda and Tmall Supermarket platforms for groceries, as well as Ele.me and Cainiao, its on-demand food demand delivery app and logistics businesses, respectively. For customers, this means faster deliveries and larger selections, while giving Alibaba more sources of data it can use to improve its supply chain and business operations." — Catherine Shu, TechCrunch
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