(Yicai) June 30 -- A court in China has issued a first-instance judgment in a long-running dispute between Wanda Group and Suning.Com, ordering the cash-strapped conglomerate to pay the consumer electronics retailer CNY1.7 billion (USD260 million) for breaching a 2018 share repurchase agreement.

Wanda should pay Suning.Com the CNY1.7 billion within 10 days of the judgment date along with delayed payment losses calculated at 1.5 times the one-year loan prime rate from Feb. 26, 2024, to Feb. 13, 2026, Nanjing-based Suning.Com announced yesterday, citing the ruling by the Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court.

Sunin.Com’s stock [SHE: 002024] closed 1.7 percent higher at CNY1.17 (17 US cents) in Shenzhen today, after earlier jumping by as much as 5.2 percent.

The court also ruled that Beijing-based Wanda must bear the case acceptance fee of CNY8.8 million (USD1.3 million), Suning.Com added, noting that all of its other claims were dismissed.

Wanda’s property management arm Wanda Commercial Management Group went public in Hong Kong in 2014, but founder Wang Jianlin thought that the stock was undervalued, so he took the firm private to prepare for a listing in the Chinese mainland.

As part of the take-private deal, Tencent Holdings, Suning.Com, Sunac China, and JD.Com spent a combined CNY34 billion (USD5 billion) to buy a 14 percent stake in Wanda Commercial Management, Wanda announced in January 2018. Suning paid CNY9.5 billion for 4 percent. But Wanda Commercial Management failed to go public in the mainland.

In October 2024, Suning.Com announced it had filed a lawsuit, alleging that Wanda and Wanda Commercial Management had violated the terms of their agreement. Suning.Com claimed that Wanda owed it CNY5 billion worth of share buyback fees.

In the first quarter of this year, Suning.Com reported a net profit of CNY28.9 million (USD4.3 million), up 61 percent from a year ago. But after excluding non-recurring gains and losses, it had a CNY861 million (USD130 million) loss, which was 334 percent deeper than in the year-earlier period.

Editor: Futura Costaglione