Tag Archives: Sun Art

RETAIL: Alibaba Boosts Grocery Rush with Sun Art Investment

Bottom line: Alibaba’s new investment in grocery operator Sun Art looks like a shrewd move into an area where logical synergies between online and offline shopping can be achieved.

Alibaba buys into Sun Art

After a period of relative quiet, e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) is splashing back into the major M&A headlines with its purchase of a major stake in grocery retailer Sun Art (HK: 6808) for HK$22.4 billion ($2.9 billion). This particular deal looks strikingly similar to an earlier tie-up between Alibaba’s archrival JD.com (Nasdaq: JD), which is joining online and offline grocery carts through its own older tie-up with Walmart (NYSE: WMT).

Each of these plays looks relatively savvy, acknowledging that off-line shopping will continue to play a major role in the retail experience for certain products. Alibaba has embraced this online-offline approach with a vengeance over the past year, snapping up a series of existing retail chains and also rolling out its own concept convenience store that is completely automated. Read Full Post…

E-COMMERCE: Alibaba, JD.com Step Up Supermarket Drive

Bottom line: Alibaba could buy the RT-Mart supermarket chain this year to boost its grocery business, while JD.com’s more online-focused effort and push into smaller cities looks like a better approach to the sector.

Alibaba grocer drives into Sun Art, JD goes to small cities

The online supermarket wars that began last year between e-commerce rivals Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) are heating up in the Year of the Rooster, though the pair seem to be taking slightly different tacks, at least based on the latest headlines. Leading those are reports that Alibaba is in talks for a tie-up of some sort with Sun Art (HKEx: 6808), operator of the popular RT-Mart supermarket chain. Meantime, JD is making its own headlines in the space, with an executive detailing the company’s plans to achieve 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) in sales from its operation this year. Read Full Post…

RETAIL: Lianhua Gets Lifeline Amid Supermarket Shake-Out

Bottom line: Poorly run traditional supermarkets like Lianhua are destined for extinction in the next 5-10 years as they get overtaken by the rapidly rising e-commerce names like Yihaodian and JD.com.

Tired Lianhua sells stake to Yonghui

A couple of supermarket headlines are casting a spotlight on a Chinese market that is rapidly transforming, putting pressure on traditional stores operated by domestic players like Sun Art (HKEx: 6808) and global chains like Carrefour (Paris: CA). The first headline has Shanghai-based operator Lianhua (HKEx: 980) selling a major stake of itself to smaller but more nimble rival Yonghui (Shanghai: 601933) in a $120 million deal. The second has Yihaodian becoming the first online grocer to break into an important annual industry ranking list, underscoring the rapid rise of Internet-based supermarkets. Read Full Post…

Dairy Farm Ties With Yonghui In Supermarket Play

Wellcome operator invests in China’s Yonghui

Consolidation continues to advance in the Chinese supermarket aisle, with word that Hong Kong grocery operator Dairy Farm (London: DFIB) is paying nearly $1 billion for 20 percent of Yonghui (Shanghai: 601933), one of China’s top chains. A couple of years ago I would have said this deal looked like a good one for both sides, combining Dairy Farm’s well-run Hong Kong-based chain of Wellcome supermarkets with Yonghui’s sizable Chinese operations. But frankly speaking, China’s rapid migration of food shopping into the e-commerce realm makes the whole idea of consolidation of brick-and-mortar operations look like a belated effort with limited growth potential. Read Full Post…

Tesco Ditches China Shopping Cart, Carrefour Next?

Tesco shopping cart coasts out of China

I wasn’t too surprised to read the latest news that British retailing giant Tesco (London: TSCO) was effectively bowing out of the Chinese supermarket business, as the company never really found a niche in the fiercely competitive market. But more interesting will be the fate of remaining giants Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and Carrefour (Paris: CA), and even domestic leader Sun Art (HKEx: 6808), as these companies struggle to remain relevant amid a major assault from e-commerce firms. Of those big players, only Walmart has made a serious move into e-commerce, which looks set to rapidly overtake traditional markets in China’s retailing space. Read Full Post…

Investors Feast on Sun Art 高鑫零售首日挂牌表现抢眼

After weeks of seeing one IPO scrapped after another as market sentiment toward China listings evaporated, especially in the Internet space, it’s nice to see there’s still healthy demand for a good, solid offer like hypermarket operator Sun Art Retail Group’s (HKEx: 6808) $1 billion IPO. After pricing at the top of their range, Sun Art’s Hong Kong listed shares soared as much as 43 percent on their first trading day, in one of the best debuts this year and in sharp contrast to the many flops for Chinese companies going public in Hong Kong and the United States. (English article) Sentiment has dropped so sharply that three companies, Internet firms Xunlei, Tudou and Shanda Cloudary, have all yanked their offerings in the last week due to terrible demand as investors fret over the quality of these firms’ accounting. (previous post) Such is clearly not the case for Sun Art, which operates in a much more straightforward business running supermarkets, which also has huge potential. As China’s mid-tier and smaller cities become wealthier, supermarket operators like Sun Art, whose stores carry the RT-Mart and Auchan names, should be able to go into these areas and easily attract consumers with their stores that offer more convenience and variety to traditional food stores that now dominate most of these towns. A growing number of suburban satellite cities of major metropolises like Shanghai and Beijing should also provide good fodder for growth. Already ranking first in the hypermarket sector, just ahead of Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), China Resources Enterprise (HKEx: 291) and Carrefour (Paris: CAR), Sun Art seems in prime position to capitalize on China’s growing hunger for mega-supermarkets.

Bottom line: Sun-Art looks like a strong bet for China’s fast-growing supermarket space, with plenty of room for upside for its newly listed shares.

随着市场对中国上市企业情绪转弱,数周来各公司纷纷取消IPO计划,尤其是在互联网领域。很高兴还能看到市场对像大卖场运营商高鑫零售有限公司<6808.HK>等好企业的股票需求强劲。高鑫零售IPO价格定在招股区间上限,规模为10亿美元。高鑫零售上市首日飙升43%。是今年上市首日表现最好的股票之一,与在香港和美国上市的其他中国企业股票的下跌形成鲜明对比。市场人气急转直下,以致迅雷、土豆和盛大文学三家企业均在上周搁置上市计划,因投资者担心各公司财务问题,认购情况不好。但高鑫零售很明显未受此影响。随着中国二线和较小城市日益富裕,高鑫零售等大卖场运营商应该能打入这些地区,并能轻易地吸引消费者。北京、上海等大城市周围日益增加的郊区卫星城市也将为其增长提供机遇。作为中国国内最大的大卖场运营商,高鑫零售似乎在中国超大型超市的发展中占得了先机。

一句话:在中国快速发展的超级市场行业,高鑫零售看似非常有潜力,其股票还有很大上升空间。

Related postings 相关文章:

China’s Drive to the Suburbs: A Nice Supermarket Play 中国年轻人郊区购房 超市势将获益

Wal-Mart Buys Into China E-Commerce 沃尔玛进军中国电子商务

Belle, Baidu See Beauty in Online Shoe Store 百度和百丽投资优购网或为明智之举

News Digest: July 27, 2011

The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on July 27. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.

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Xunlei, Shanda Cloudary Aborted IPOs Create Domino Effect for Tudou, Others (Chinese article)

Sun Art Retail Gains in Gray Market Ahead China Hypermarket Chain’s Debut (English article)

TAL Education (NYSE: XRS) Announces Results for the Quarter Ended May 31 (PRNewswire)

UPS (NYSE: UPS) Launches Express Flights to Fast-Growing Chengdu (Businesswire)

Nissan’s China Venture to Invest $7.8 Billion to Boost Output, Gain Sales (English article)