China's JD.com to invest $800 mln in Dada Group (updated)

Dada Nexus

22/03/2021 13:28

(Adds details from the release, background)
    March 22 (Reuters) - China's JD.Com  JD.O   9618.HK  said on
Monday it would invest $800 million in on-demand delivery
platform Dada Group  DADA.O , following which the e-commerce
firm will own about 51% of Dada. 
    The investment comes at a time when JD.com is spinning off
its logistics business, the in-house delivery network that gave
it competitive advantage over larger rival Alibaba Group
 BABA.N .
    JD had merged its online-to-offline unit, JD Daojia, with
Dada in 2016. Dada-JD Daojia, a Chinese online grocery and
delivery firm, then in 2018 raised $500 million from Walmart Inc
 WMT.N  and JD.
    JD.com on Monday also agreed not to sell, transfer or
dispose of any shares bought in the deal for six months after
the closing.
    U.S.-listed shares of Dada jumped nearly 19%, while those of
JD.com were up 0.5% in trading before the bell. 

 (Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh
Kuber and Anil D'Silva)
 ((Eva.Mathews@thomsonreuters.com;))