JD Launches Buyout of Shanghai-Listed Deppon Logistics at 35% Premium

JD Logistics is proposing to privatise Deppon Logistics by the shares it does not yet own in the Chinese shipping company from minority shareholders at a 35 percent premium, as the logistics arm of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com seeks to consolidate its market position.

Deppon’s board last week approved JD Logistics’ proposal to delist Deppon shares from the Shanghai Stock Exchange , JD Logistics said in a filing with the Hong Kong bourse.

To facilitate the privatisation, JD Logistics, which now owns 80.01 percent of the less-than-truckload shipping specialist is offering a cash option of RMB 19 ($2.72) per share to acquire the remaining 199,855,259 Deppon shares held by minority shareholders. The proposed cash option, totaling approximately RMB 3.797 billion ($544 million), will be funded by the group’s own capital or financing.

“The acquisition of the remaining interest in Deppon enables the group to further integrate the logistics networks and explore more synergies between Deppon Group and the group, in order to consolidate the industry leading position in freight delivery of the group,” JD Logistics said.

Value-Upgraded Offer

JD Logistics’s latest offer marks a second attempt at privatising Deppon, which has 140 warehouses spanning 126,000 square metres (1.36 million square feet), and is seen by analysts as a move to resolve horizontal competition with its listed subsidiary to comply with Chinese laws.

JD Logistics acquired a 66 percent stake in Deppon in 2022 for RMB 8.976 million in a move which added Deppon’s 143 sorting hubs, more than 30,000 service outlets and 15,000 trucks to its holdings, in addition to the warehouse portfolio. 

That acquisition triggered a mandatory tender offer, but JD Logistics’ then RMB 13.15 offer price, which represented an approximately 4 percent premium at the time, failed to attract enough acceptance from minority shareholders. 

JD Logistics subsequently acquired more Deppon shares, increasing its stake to over 80 percent.

With the latest proposal subject to approval by at least two-thirds of the voting rights held by non-major and non-executive shareholders, JD Logistics is making a more attractive offer. Its RMB 19 offer price represents a 35 percent premium over Deppon’s RMB 14.04 closing price on January 9, the day before trading was suspended in preparation for the privatisation proposal announcement.

Deppon’s Shanghai-listed stock jumped to the 10 percent daily price cap and remained at the ceiling price on both Wednesday and Thursday this past week, after trading resumed. 

Business Consolidation

The JD-Deppon integration involved Deppon acquiring 83 transit hubs from JD Logistics’ LTL operations in mid-2023 for RMB 106 million to eliminate redundancy. 

Since linking with JD Logistics, Deppon has been reshaping its business, including  divesting logistics hubs in Xi’an, Huai’an, Xiamen and Qingdao during 2023 to Chinese alternative asset manager CDH Investments for RMB 940 million in a “sell and lease back” deal to free up capital and focus on its core business.

After growing steadily since 2022, including expanding its portfolio to 133 sorting hubs and 200 warehouses by last June, Deppon faced headwinds amid higher operating costs and lower margins. The company swung to a net loss of RMB 277 million in the first three quarters of 2025 from a net profit of RMB 517 million in the same period a year earlier, while its revenue rose 7 percent year-on-year to RMB 30.3 billion.

Besides the Deppon takeover, JD Logistics has made a number of other acquisitions in recent years. 

Last June, the completed the privatisation of Nasdaq-listed on-demand retail delivery company Dada Group in a deal that valued the company at $520 million.

In 2024, it acquired the remaining 36.4 percent stake in air express company Kuayue Express for RMB 6.5 billion, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary after first investing in the company in 2020.