Ceconomy AG

Retail · E-Commerce · Regulation

Acquisition

JD.com clears final EU hurdle for $2.5B Ceconomy takeover

Regulators imposed decade-long guardrails forcing the Chinese e-commerce giant to share subsidized logistics and tech with rival retailers.

• The European Commission granted conditional clearance under its Foreign Subsidies Regulation for JD.com's €2.2 billion ($2.5 billion) acquisition of Ceconomy, the last outstanding regulatory approval for the deal.
• Ceconomy is Germany's largest consumer electronics retailer, running more than 1,000 stores and about 50,000 employees under the MediaMarkt and Saturn brands.
• To offset Chinese state subsidies, JD.com must offer its warehousing, logistics and technology services to third-party retailers on the same terms as Ceconomy, and conduct intra-group financing at market rates, for 10 years under an independent trustee's watch.
• JD.com already holds 59.8% of Ceconomy's shares after its 2025 tender offer, while the founding Kellerhals family's 25.4% stake has agreed to vote with JD.com, giving it de facto control above 85%.
• This is the first in-depth Foreign Subsidies Regulation merger clearance involving a Chinese acquirer; the two prior cases concerned UAE-based buyers, including ADNOC's acquisition of Covestro.
• JD.com said it plans to close the transaction by November 12, 2026, after securing foreign-investment approvals in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Austria.
• The ruling sets a template for how Brussels will police Chinese capital entering European retail and infrastructure, allowing deals to proceed if subsidies are neutralized rather than banned outright.