Li & Fung announced a strategic investment of $100 million from JD.com to further develop its digital supply chain.
The Fung Family will continue to retain control of the sourcing company, with 60 percent of the voting shares. Li & Fung went private in May after 28 years on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In doing so, it joined with GLP, a global logistics warehouse operator and investor headquartered in Singapore.
Li & Fung has been on a journey to create the “Supply Chain of the Future” and the sourcing and logistics specialist said the strategic cooperation with JD will accelerate this development with a proven digital partner. Li & Fung will also grow its business in China by partnering with JD on private-label initiatives for the China domestic market by leveraging its global network and digital supply chain.
“Our goal to create the ‘Supply Chain of the Future’ and to improve the lives of 1 billion people in our global supply chain remains more relevant than ever in this turbulent world,” Spencer Fung, CEO of Li & Fung, said. “The partnership with GLP and the addition of JD will be instrumental in further strengthening Li & Fung.”
With the strong partnership between the Fung Family and GLP, and now the addition of JD, Li & Fung said it will be able to leverage its scale and digital capabilities to continue its journey of creating the end-to-end digital supply chain.
As Chinese technology-driven e-commerce powerhouse, JD is transforming to become the leading supply chain-based technology and service provider, which fits well with Li & Fung’s goal of creating the future supply chain. JD has been developing proprietary supply-chain technologies for many years and has created digital retail and supply-chain platforms that are fully integrated to support its omnichannel strategies.
Amid the continuing digital disruption to retail and the ongoing global trade tensions, compounded by the dramatic impact of COVID-19, the global retail supply chain has become increasingly more complex, Li & Fung said. With the breadth and depth of its global sourcing and production ecosystem, pan-Asia logistics network, and industry leading digital product development capabilities, the company said it is helping global retailers and brands navigate a highly uncertain and quickly changing macroeconomic environment.