2.5 minutes

The retailer has rejected an initial offer from private equity investor group Elliott Management, and JD.com has expressed interest in an offer to acquire Currys.

Investors are working on a Currys Plc acquisition, including Chinese ecommerce company JD.com and private equity investor group Elliott Management.

Currys is No. 23 in the Europe Database, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest online retailers in the region. It sells refrigerators, washing machines, computers and other electrical goods. Currys operates 301 stores in the United Kingdom and 426 stores across Scandinavia through its Elkjop brand.

Elliott’s offer for Currys

Currys said that it had rejected an offer from Elliott, which owns book store chain Waterstones.

“The board confirms that it received an unsolicited, preliminary and conditional proposal from Elliott regarding a possible cash offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of the Company,” Currys said in a Feb. 19 statement.

Currys said its board considered the proposal but concluded that it “significantly undervalued” Currys “and its future prospects.” It said it unanimously rejected the proposal on Feb. 16. The offer would have valued the retailer at 700 million pounds (about $833 million). Currys was valued at 533 million pounds at trading close on Feb. 16.

advertisement

JD.com looks into Currys acquisition

In addition to Elliott, JD.com said it’s considering making an offer for Currys.

JD.com said it was “in the very preliminary stages of evaluating a possible transaction that may include a cash offer for the entire issued share capital of Currys.”

There is no certainty that JD will make an offer, and a further announcement will be made if and when appropriate, JD said. Both JD and Elliott have until mid-March to announce firm intentions to make an offer for Currys, in accordance with United Kingdom rules for corporate takeovers.

JD.com Inc. is No. 1 in the Asia Database, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest online retailers in the region.

advertisement

Do you rank in our databases? 

Submit your data and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the ecommerce industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.

Favorite