HNA Retailing yesterday announced it invested 900 million yuan (US$135 million) to acquire Jiadeli Supermarket as it embarks on a strategy to expand its business nationwide by the end of next year.
The company, a retailing arm of China's fourth-largest aviation group HNA Group, bought the stake from ARC Capital Holdings Ltd and regarded the deal as a key step to expand its business in east China.
"We plan to increase our total assets and annual revenue to more than 10 billion yuan each within one year, and the acquisition is crucial for us," Zhang Yi, chief executive officer of HNA Retailing, said yesterday in Shanghai.
"We may also consider injecting Jiadeli into our listed arm - Xi'an Minsheng Group Co in the future." Zhang added.
Jiadeli, which had total assets of 772 million yuan by the end of May 2009, now runs a chain of 154 supermarkets in Shanghai as well as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces. It posted a revenue of 860 million yuan in the first five months of last year and a net profit of 18.16 million yuan.
The transaction is the latest move to expand by HNA Group in three key businesses - airlines, logistics and financial services. The group owns 13 airlines, nearly 50 cargo ships and manages more than 50 hotels and 12 airports.
By the end of June, HNA Retailing ran eight department stores, 48 supermarkets, two duty free stores and one e-commerce company, and has 5.4 billion yuan in assets.
