Alibaba bids $1.5 billion for Pupu in China grocery delivery fight
Why it matters: The offer tops a $600 million bid from Sun Art and could intensify antitrust scrutiny as Meituan also pushes deeper into groceries.
Alibaba Group Holding has offered $1.5 billion to buy Chinese grocery delivery company Pupu, escalating a contest for one of the last sizable independent players in China’s online fresh-food market. The bid is more than double an earlier $600 million proposal from Sun Art Retail, which is backed by DCP Capital. The move comes months after Meituan moved to acquire Dingdong Fresh Holding for $717 million. Pupu, based in Fujian, generates more than 30 billion yuan in annual revenue and runs a 30-minute delivery network across about 10 cities in Fujian, Guangdong, Sichuan and Hubei. Any sale to a major platform could draw Beijing’s attention as regulators weigh consolidation against years of subsidy-driven price wars.