The news of Yintai Commercial's change of ownership has indeed come true.
On the afternoon of December 17th, Alibaba (09988. HK) announced that the company and another minority shareholder have agreed to sell 100% of the equity of Intime to a consortium of buyers composed of members of the Yagor Group and Intime management team. Alibaba's total proceeds from the sale of Intime are approximately RMB 7.4 billion, and it is expected to record a loss of approximately RMB 9.3 billion due to the sale of Intime.
Affected by this news, the stock price of Yagor fluctuated and rose, while Alibaba's Hong Kong stock experienced a decline.
Intended to 'strengthen and supplement chains'
In fact, as early as February this year, there were rumors in the market that Alibaba was considering selling its department store and shopping center operator Intime Commerce, and had already approached several companies with potential acquisition intentions, including Yagor.
On December 16th, the day before the official announcement, pictures of the "Yintai Project Signing Ceremony" between Yagor and Alibaba went viral on the internet. Subsequently, there were rumors in the market that Yagor may acquire shares related to Yintai Commercial. Currently, both parties plan to hold a press conference to announce the relevant merger and acquisition matters. But regarding market rumors, Yagor's external statement is that there is currently no information to be released. Alibaba has not responded positively either.
Today's announcement from Alibaba has finally settled the rumors of a change of ownership for Yintai Commercial.
Yintai Commercial covers various formats such as department stores and shopping centers. Among them, its department store business began with the first Yintai Department Store Wulin Branch established in Hangzhou in 1998. After more than 20 years of development, Intime Department Store has gradually grown into one of the benchmark enterprises in the domestic retail department store industry. As of now, Intime Commercial has 60 department stores and multiple pending projects across the country.
Yagor Group was founded in 1979 and is a leading enterprise in the national textile and clothing industry. The company started in the clothing industry and gradually expanded into real estate and investment, forming the "three pillars" of Yagor's main business. In 2023, Yagor Group achieved sales revenue of 191.6 billion yuan and a total profit of 4.2 billion yuan, ranking 36th among the top 500 private enterprises in China. As of the end of 2023, the total assets of Yagor Group are 101.4 billion yuan.
In recent years, Yagor has chosen to aggressively enter physical commerce. In the first three quarters of this year, it continued to strengthen its connection with top commercial entities, accelerating its entry into high-end shopping centers, adjusting key stores, opening 96 new self operated stores, closing 92, and closing 1733 self operated stores at the end of the year, a net increase of 4 compared to the beginning of the year; The business area was 472400 square meters, a net increase of 20300 square meters from the beginning of the year.
After the announcement of the change of ownership, Yintai Commercial told a reporter from Securities Times · e Company that the joint investment of Yagor Group and Yintai management in Yintai aims to "strengthen the chain and supplement the chain" and develop Yintai together for the future. Intime Department Store adheres to the business philosophy of "good things are not expensive". In the future, with the support of Yagor Group, we will jointly inject resources and continue to provide high-quality retail shopping experiences for consumers.
Who will be selling next?
The alliance between Alibaba and Intime Commercial began 10 years ago. In 2013, the department store industry represented by Intime Department Store showed a clear downward trend. Faced with the challenge of transformation and upgrading, Intime Department Store chose to join hands with commercial giant Alibaba.
In 2014, Alibaba made a strategic investment of HKD 5.37 billion in Intime Commercial, holding 9.9% of the shares and approximately HKD 3.71 billion in convertible bonds after the transaction was completed. In 2015, Alibaba was promoted to become the single largest shareholder of Intime Commercial by increasing its holdings. In 2016, Intime Commercial announced that it had accepted Alibaba's share swap notice. After the swap was completed, Alibaba's shareholding in Intime would reach 27.82%, officially becoming the sole largest shareholder of Intime Commercial.
However, the development of Alibaba's new retail business has not been smooth in recent years. In the fiscal year 2024, including the "All Other" segment consisting of businesses such as Gaoxin Retail, Hema, and Intime Department Store, the overall revenue decreased by 2% year-on-year to 192.331 billion yuan.
The new management team of Alibaba, consisting of Cai Chongxin and Wu Yongming, is reshaping Alibaba's business structure by withdrawing from non core assets. Previously, Alibaba Group Chairman Joseph Tsai stated that in the first nine months of the 2024 fiscal year (April 1 to December 31, 2023), Alibaba had completed $1.7 billion in non core asset sales.
It is worth mentioning that Alibaba's new retail legion, Gaoxin Retail, has also reached a crossroads. On September 27th of this year, Gaoxin Retail announced that it had received a contact letter from a potential offeror, and the major shareholder Alibaba Group is currently in discussions with the offeror.
According to the latest announcement on December 26th, as informed by Alibaba Group, except for certain confidentiality arrangements, Jixin Holdings Limited, Taobao China Holdings Limited, and New Retail Strategic Opportunities Investments Limited have not reached any agreements or transactions with potential bidders regarding possible offers.
In addition, on November 28th, Liren Beauty issued a suggestive announcement that the company's shareholder Hangzhou Haoyue Enterprise Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Hangzhou Haoyue") announced plans to sell no more than 70.3767 million shares of the company's shares through an agreement transfer, accounting for 17.57% of the company's total share capital. The reason is' self funding needs'.
The above-mentioned 70.3767 million shares of equity to be transferred are also all shares of Liren Beauty held by Hangzhou Haoyue. The source of the above-mentioned shares is: due to the existing separation of Alibaba (China) Network Technology Co., Ltd., the newly established company Hangzhou Haoyue will inherit all the shares of the company held by Alibaba Network after the separation. Alibaba Network transferred all 70.3767 million shares it acquired before the IPO of Liren Beauty to Hangzhou Haoyue for inheritance in January 2024.