Chinese e-commerce marketplace Alibaba Group will acquire all outstanding shares in Ele.me, a leading online delivery and local services platform in China.
Alibaba and its affiliate Ant Small and Micro Financial Services Group Co. currently own approximately 43% of the outstanding shares of Ele.me. The transaction places the enterprise value of Ele.me at US$9.5bn.
This acquisition will deepen Ele.me’s integration into Alibaba’s ecosystem and advance Alibaba’s New Retail strategy to provide a seamless online and offline consumer experience in the local services sector.
Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group, said, “We are excited for Ele.me to become a part of the Alibaba ecosystem. Under the leadership of its founder and management team, Ele.me has achieved leading market share in China’s online food delivery and local services sector. Our shared belief that New Retail will create more value for customers and merchants has brought us together.
“Looking forward, Ele.me can leverage Alibaba’s infrastructure in commerce and find new synergies with Alibaba’s diverse businesses to add further momentum to the New Retail initiative.”
Ele.me’s fast local delivery service will build on its core expertise in food delivery to provide consumers with a wider range of products and services on-demand. Ele.me also complements Koubei, Alibaba’s affiliated local services platform.
Zhang Xuhao, founder of Ele.me, said, “This acquisition shows that we have built Ele.me into one of China’s most valuable internet businesses. Our customers, merchants and partners will benefit from our further integration into the Alibaba family. We share the same strategic vision that New Retail has a bright future and being part of Alibaba’s ecosystem will take Ele.me’s growth to a new level.”
Ele.me will continue to operate in its own brand and work closely with its existing partners and merchants. Alibaba will lend its full support to Ele.me including access to its New Retail infrastructure, product offerings and technology expertise.
Upon completion of the acquisition, Zhang Xuhao will become chairman of Ele.me and special advisor to Alibaba’s CEO on new retail strategy.
Wang Lei, vice president of Alibaba Group, will become chief executive of Ele.me.
April 3, 2018