(Yicai) Aug. 1 -- JD.Com has reportedly rebutted online rumors that the Chinese e-commerce giant plans to acquire leading chain supermarket operator Yonghui Superstores.

JD.Com has no intention of buying Yonghui at the present time, The Paper reported a manager at the Beijing-based firm as saying, without providing further details.

According to rumors on social media today, JD.Com has been in talks with Yonghui about the acquisition, with at least one round of preliminary negotiations held.

JD.Com has had a close relationship with Yonghui in recent years, buying a 10 percent stake in the Fuzhou-based firm for CNY4.6 billion (USD642 million) in 2015, with the pair saying they will strengthen cooperation in the online-to-offline business. 

JD.Com favors wholly-owned acquisitions and is acting aggressively to gain de facto control of Yonghui, according to people familiar with the matter. Only a full takeover can completely integrate Yonghui’s thousands of offline stores and fresh food supply chains into JD.Com’s system, they added.

But Zhang Xuansong, founder and chairman of Yonghui, is more inclined to accept a financial investment from JD.Com, rather than completely hand over his work of more than 20 years, according to rumors.

Shares of Yonghui [SHA: 601933] closed 3.7 percent higher at CNY3.63 (51 US cents) in Shanghai today, after earlier soaring by as much as 8 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index was little changed.

Yonghui’s first-quarter earnings report showed that JD.Com and its unit, Suqian Hanbang Investment Management, own the largest stake in the firm at 13.4 percent, surpassing Zhang, who has an 8.7 percent holding, and Vice Chairman Zhang Xuanning’s 8.2 percent. JD.Com Chief Executive Xu Ran serves as a non-independent director of Yonghui.

Yonghui's total net loss for last year and 2021 stands at more than CNY6.7 billion. It has since narrowed its business scope and returned to its main focus, expanding its online channels in a simpler way and reporting a net profit of CNY704 million (USD98 million) in the three months ended March 31, a 40 percent gain on a year earlier.

Editor: Martin Kadiev