Alibaba subsidiary Taobao China Holding Limited (Taobao) has agreed to buy an aggregate direct and indirect 36.2% stake in Sun Art Retail Group (Sun Art) for ~U$2.9bn. Taobao may also make a mandatory unconditional cash offer for the remaining shares it does not own.

Details of the stake purchases below:

• Taobao purchased a direct 26% stake in Sun Art from Kofu and Concord Greater China for HKD 6.50 per share (total consideration is ~US$2.1bn).
• In addition, Taobao has agreed to buy a 19.9% stake in A-RT, which owns a 51% stake in Sun Art for HKD 6.50 per share (total consideration is ~US$0.8bn).

You can find some more coverage of the deal here, on TechCrunch.