China’s JD.com in talks to purchase stake in brokerage worth up to $1.5 billion

JD.com Inc is in talks to buy part or all of a stake in brokerage Sinolink Securities worth at least $1.5 billion, three people said, as the e-commerce major aims to bolster its financial services operations.

A deal to buy the stake from Sinolink’s largest shareholder, Yongjin Group, would be the biggest bet in acquisition value terms by Beijing-based JD.com in China’s $45 trillion financial market.

“The valuable brokerage licence is key for tech giants to monetise their huge online traffic and grow into bigger firms, as otherwise they have to direct such traffic to other financial institutions,” one of the sources said.