Chinese handset retailer Beijing Digital Telecom has acquired a 49 per cent stake in Spice Online, part of Indian telco Spice Group, according to Beijing stock exchange filings.
Spice Online runs Saholic.com, a shopping portal for mobile phones, tablets, laptops and accessories.
Beijing Digital handled the transaction through its Singapore-based subsidiary Digitone, run by New Idea Investment. In an earlier filing, the company had said it would be acquiring the stake for US$2.5 million from Spice Mobility and provide a loan of an equal amount.
In a separate filing, Spice Mobility had said the stake sale would help it expand to the business-to-business (B2B) eCommerce market and gain from the investor’s experience in the wholesale distribution of electronic devices.
Meanwhile, Beijing Digital is also taking a 60 per cent stake in a JV with Omni Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of Spice Mobility, for $2.5 million plus extending a shareholder loan of an equal amount. The Indian company will hold the remaining 40 per cent in the new venture.
Spice Mobility said in a regulatory filing last month that another unit, Hindustan Retail, had agreed to transfer its 100 per cent stake in Spice Online to Omni Ventures.
