Spar China franchisor launches IPO

Jijiayue Group, the parent of Spar China franchisor Spar Shandong, has launched an IPO.

Spar Shandong became Spar International’s first retail partner in China in 2004, and opened its first store in 2005 in the city of Weihai, north east China. Since then, Spar China has opened 360 stores with nearly 1 million sqm of selling space in eight provinces, employing over 30,000 people. It also operates eight distribution centres delivering across 50 cities.

Jiajiayue issued 90 million shares, listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Late last month, interest from investors saw the online portion of the IPO oversubscribed 4407 times and the share price rose 43 per cent on its first day of trading.

The funds raised will be used to finance new store openings and upgrades of existing stores, developing distribution centres and logistics infrastructure and enhancing the existing technology and IT infrastructure.

 

Tobias Wasmuht, MD of Spar International described the IPO as a significant milestone, not just for Spar Shandong, but for the wider Spar China family as well.

“All at Spar are delighted to have contributed to the success of Jiajiayue. Over the last 12 years the company has continued to lead the way, working closely with the growing list of Spar Partners in China to grow and enhance the brand. Investor interest in today’s IPO is testament to the strength and vision of the company and its management team.”

In addition to its partnership with Spar, Jiajiayue Group is involved in food processing, thye wholesaling of agricultural products and foreign trade business. In total it operates over 400 stores with a selling space of 900,000 sqm in 34 cities within Shandong province such as Weihai, Yantai, Jinan, Weifang, Qingdao, Linyi, Laiwu and Zaozhuang.

The store formats cover hypermarket, supermarket, department store, neighbourhood store and discount store. The company has been recognised with a number of awards, including top 100 China FMCG Chain, Customer Satisfied Company in Shandong Province and Top Employer of China Retailing.