Alibaba buys into high-street business (2/3)

In this file photo taken on Nov. 16, 2013, Alibaba's CEO Jack Ma Yun (1st R) and Intime Retail Group Co. chairman Shen Guojun (2nd R) attend an event celebrating the 15th anniversary of Intime's department stores in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group announced on Monday that it will pay 5.3 billion Hong Kong dollars (692 million U.S. dollars) to acquire shares of Hong Kong-listed department store operator Intime (Yintai) Retail Group Co. Under the two companies' agreement, Alibaba will acquire 9.9 percent of Intime's shares for 1.6 billion Hong Kong dollars, while buys 3.7-billion-HK dollar worth of convertible bonds of the high-street company. Alibaba will exchange the bonds for Intime shares in three years so that it will eventually hold a 26-percent stake in the company. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)