Alibaba announced today that it will acquire all outstanding shares that it does not already own in food delivery platform Ele.me. The transaction implies the enterprise value of Ele.me at US$9.5 billion. Alibaba and its financial arm Ant Financial are already the largest shareholder in the company with approximately 43% shares.
Rumors of Alibaba’s acquisition of Ele.me have been circulating since December last year with the peak hitting at the end of February when Beijing Hualian Department Store, a shareholder in Hong Kong-based Rajax which owns and operates Ele.me, announced that Rajax is indeed talking to Alibaba about increasing its stake in Ele.me.
