Tencent Ali bids for a 10% stake in Watsons Temasek intends to sell at a price of 23.4 billion
Singapore’s sovereign fund Temasek intends to reduce its stake in Watsons. Bloomberg reports that Tencent (00700) and Alibaba are potential buyers. Temasek currently holds a 24.95% stake in Watsons and plans to sell 10% of it at a price of approximately US$3 billion (approximately HK$23.4 billion).
With 12 retail brands 15,000 stores
It is reported that Tencent or a partner fund to bid for Watsons shares, Alibaba has not been informed whether it will shoot other investors. Potential buyers will participate in the bidding briefing held this month. If the buyers and sellers have a gap in the valuation of the shares, the transaction may not be reached, and Temasek may not be ruled out or decided to retain the shares in full. Representatives of Tencent, Alibaba and Temasek declined to comment on the news.
Hutchison Whampoa (now Changhe (00001)) was once scheduled to spin off Watsons and subsequently changed its strategy. In 2014, it sold 24.95% stake in Watsons to Temasek for 44 billion yuan, only retaining the remaining equity, based on the price calculation, Watsons The valuation is over 176 billion yuan. Until January of this year, the market reported that Temasek was working with a financial advisor to research and sell its holdings of 24.95% or part of Watsons.
Watson’s official website shows that Watson’s history can be traced back to 1841. Currently, the group has 12 retail brands in 25 markets around the world, with more than 15,000 stores.
Last year, Watsons Group, Yonghui Supermarket (601933.SH) and Yonghui Supermarket Shareholder Tencent formed a joint venture company in the Mainland to carry out supermarket business in Guangdong Province. The Watsons Group will inject the supermarket business of its China’s top 100 supermarkets. Yonghui will inject the existing supermarket business in Guangdong into the joint venture company, bringing the total number of stores to more than 70 and setting up a new brand called “Baijia Yonghui”.
Tencent People’s Insurance strengthens cooperation
On the other hand, Tencent signed a strategic cooperation agreement with People’s Insurance of China (01339), and the two sides will further strengthen their business areas such as insurance innovation, enterprise annuity, big data, artificial intelligence, payment business, health management, and financial and insurance joint laboratories. Cooperation, to provide users with comprehensive, differentiated and professional financial insurance services.
Qi Jianmin, chairman of PICC, said that the two will strengthen in-depth cooperation in micro-insurance, payment, risk control, vehicle networking, intelligent claims, customer drainage, insurance innovation, artificial intelligence, health management and other fields. Tencent Chairman Ma Huateng pointed out that he will continue to give full play to his own advantages, strengthen digital support for financial and insurance business scenarios, and provide people with insurance with big data models and full-process solutions from the exhibition industry to the claims-based business cycle.