Chinese online retailer JD.com has bought a 10 per cent stake in Hong Kong-listed software developer Kingdee International.
JD.com will invest HK$1.3 billion (about US$170 million) in cash for the stake  and the two companies will form a strategic partnership in which they will collaborate on providing small and medium-sized enterprises with integrated ERP solutions through a cloud service.
The purchase price will be HK$4.60 per share, representing the average closing price of Kingdee’s shares for the 15 trading days prior to the signing of the agreement.
“We are delighted to be partnering with JD.com, which has developed industry-leading proprietary e-commerce and logistics technologies,” said Shaochun Xu, Kingdee chairman and CEO.
“This is a key milestone in Kingdee’s development history. We will take this opportunity to leverage both companies’ large customer and user bases, accelerate the development of Kingdee’s cloud offering and expand our one-stop shop cloud services. Collaboration with JD.com will further allow Kingdee to take our enterprise solutions to the next level by integrating JD.com’s e-commerce and logistics vertical solutions. This planned strategic partnership will position us to provide leading cloud-based ERP solutions and continue to lead the enterprise mobile Internet market for years to come. ”
Richard Liu, founder and CEO of JD.com, said he was looking forward to exploring the integration of JD.com’s eCommerce and logistics systems with Kingdee’s ERP solutions, and migrating an integrated package to an enterprise cloud solution to better serve the growing demand in China’s enterprise solutions market.
“As one of the leading providers of enterprise solutions in China with a large SME customer base and worldwide reputation for excellence, Kingdee is an ideal partner to take advantage of JD.com’s advanced e-commerce and logistics IT solutions,” Liu said.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2015, subject to customary approvals and closing conditions.
Kingdee was founded in 1993 and headquartered in Shenzhen. The group provides software products and cloud services for more than 4 million corporates, hospitals and government organisations and for over 50 million users worldwide.