Chinese e-commerce company JD.com is weighing a potential offer for UK online retailer The Very Group in a transaction that could be worth approximately £2bn ($2.70bn), Sky News reported.
Operating under the Very and Littlewoods brands, The Very Group is preparing to enter a formal auction after undergoing a financial restructuring that handed ownership control to US private equity company Carlyle earlier this year.
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Having been a long-standing creditor to the business, Carlyle assumed control for a nominal £1 following the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers to manage the insolvency of VGL Holdco in November.
Carlyle had previously committed several hundred million pounds to Very Group’s capital structure, including an £85m injection in 2024, building on an initial investment made in 2021.
Very Group, formerly known as Shop Direct, records annual revenue of more than £2bn and counts 4.4 million customers across categories, including fashion, electricals, homewares and toys.
The business also operates a consumer finance division.
The Barclay family held the business for over two decades, having acquired it – then trading as Littlewoods – for £750m in 2002.
Among the retailer’s existing creditors are UAE-based media group IMI, which holds a lending position in the business, and UK-based fund Arini, which extended a £600m loan to the company last year.
Very Group is currently chaired by former Conservative chancellor Nadhim Zahawi.
The news comes as market intelligence business GlobalData – parent company of Retail Insight Network – cautioned last week that The Very Group’s fashion division remains under strain despite the retailer returning to overall revenue growth.
Fashion and sports sales declined 4.5% in the 39 weeks to 28 March 2026, with GlobalData retail analyst Ashley Adeyemi noting that the segment continues to “drag the category into negative territory”.
Meanwhile, JD.com, which is listed on Nasdaq, has been attracting regulatory scrutiny in Europe over separate deal activity.
Last month, the European Union competition authorities launched a review into whether the company’s proposed $2.5bn acquisition of German consumer electronics group Ceconomy may have involved foreign state support.
The European Commission has set 28 May as the deadline for its preliminary assessment of that transaction.
Austrian regulators had already delayed their approval of the Ceconomy deal in March, leaving the broader acquisition in a precarious position.
The company has also recently moved into the UK market with the launch of its Joybuy online shopping platform.
The forthcoming Very Group auction is anticipated to draw interest from both trade buyers and financial investors.
