Online shopping giant JD.com invests US$100 million for a stake in one of the world’s oldest and largest supply chain managers

Name: How Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com is keeping employees safe during Covid-19 pandemic
Uploaded: 2020-07-31T04:32:22.000Z
Duration: 4 min 20 s
Description: How Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com is keeping employees safe during Covid-19 pandemic

As part of the agreement, JD.com, Li & Fung will partner on private-label initiatives for the Chinese domestic market

Fung family will retain control of the company with 60 per cent of its voting rights

Reading Time:2 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

Employees wearing protective masks sort parcels at a JD.com Inc. delivery station in Beijing on Tuesday, April 14, 2020. Photo: Bloomberg

Chad Bray

Published: 12:32pm, 31 Jul 2020Updated: 3:30pm, 20 Oct 2020

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has bought a stake in the century-old supply chain manager Li & Fung, in a strategic partnership that marries 21st century digital technology with one of the world’s largest logistics and supply chain networks.

JD.com has subscribed for US$100 million worth of Li & Fung’s newly issued shares at HK$1.25 each, the Hong Kong-based supply chain manager said in a statement, adding that the Fung family will retain control of 60 per cent of the company’s voting rights. As part of the agreement, Li & Fung will seek to increase its business in China by partnering with JD.com on private-label initiatives for the Chinese domestic market, the company said.

The investment also will help accelerate the development of the 114-year-old company’s end-to-end digital supply chain, known as the “supply chain of the future”, by partnering with JD.com, Li & Fung said.

“Our goal to create the supply chain of the future and to improve the lives of one billion people in our global supply chain remains more relevant than ever in this turbulent world,” Spencer Fung, Li & Fung’s chief executive and great-grandson of its founder, said in a statement.

04:20

How Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com is keeping employees safe during Covid-19 pandemic

The investment came just over two months after Li & Fung delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchange following a privatisation by a consortium of investors, led by the Fung family and Singapore logistics assets investor GLP. The company paid HK$1.25 per share to buy back its listed stock, listed in Hong Kong since 1992.

Last month, JD.com raised US$3.8 billion in a secondary listing in Hong Kong, as part of spate of fundraising by Chinese tech companies in the city amid worsening US-China relations.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x