Ingka Shopping Centre announced a strategic partnership with Gaoh Capital to explore new growth opportunities together
Today, Ingka Centres announced a strategic partnership with Gaorong Capital, under which the two parties will jointly establish a dedicated real estate fund to co-own three meeting and experience centres in Wuxi, Beijing, and Wuhan. This cooperation will officially take effect after obtaining approval from relevant Chinese authorities.
Under this new partnership model, Ingka Centres will continue to own the "Livat" brand and exclusively manage and operate all meeting and experience centres under the Livat brand.
This strategic collaboration will not only allow Ingka Centres to fully leverage its operational expertise, ensuring business continuity and local community connections, but also open up new opportunities for future growth and cooperation for the Ingka Group.
IKEA China will open and operate a new store within Livat Wuxi. The existing property assets of IKEA Wuxi will be transformed into new leasing space at Livat Wuxi as part of the transaction.
"Ingka Group has been rooted in the Chinese market for many years, always committed to meeting local needs and providing more accessible and sustainable services and experiences. Based on this commitment, last year we made our largest single investment globally to create the Livat Shanghai complex, and we are also excited about this new partnership with Gaorong Capital. This collaboration not only opens up new business and growth opportunities but will deepen our connection with the local communities we have long been part of. The future is promising, and we are confident," said Cindy Andersen, Global Managing Director of Ingka Centres.
China is a key strategic market for Ingka Group and a fertile ground for global retail innovation. Ingka Group continues to explore innovative ways to better meet the evolving needs of Chinese consumers. Currently, Ingka Group employs over 10,000 people in China, with IKEA Retail and Ingka Centres welcoming hundreds of millions of visitors and customers annually.
Since entering China in 2009, Ingka Centres has independently developed and operated ten meeting and experience centres and three Livat office projects, with cumulative investments exceeding RMB 27 billion. In 2024, Livat Xi'an and Livat Shanghai opened successively, further expanding Ingka Centres' market presence in China. Among them, Livat Shanghai, with a total investment of over RMB 8 billion, is Ingka Centres' largest single investment project globally to date.
"Ingka Centres has consistently delivered outstanding performance and steady growth in the Chinese market. We have seen strong visitor numbers and tenant sales, with occupancy rates remaining high and customer satisfaction achieving remarkable results. We are delighted to see that the public in China highly recognises the concepts and experiences we bring through Livat meeting and experience centres, and we look forward to further expanding business growth opportunities through this new partnership," said Zhu Jiemin, Managing Director of Ingka Centres China.
"We greatly admire Ingka Centres' excellence in product innovation and operations, which has created wonderful meeting and consumption scenarios and experiences for Chinese consumers," said Su Xin, Executive Partner of Gaorong Capital.
"The continued success of the Livat projects fully demonstrates the outstanding management capabilities of Ingka Centres' China team and further convinces us that the deep integration of international experience and local innovation will lead the future development of shopping centres in China," said Zhou Yisheng, Executive Partner of Gaorong Capital.
Having been in China for 27 years, IKEA China continues to enhance its omnichannel customer experience and develop through more focused and agile business strategies. Over the past two years, IKEA China has opened five stores of varying sizes, adopting a more flexible layout to get closer to consumers, improving convenience and accessibility, and will officially join JD.com's platform in 2025. Currently, IKEA has 41 offline customer touchpoints, three proprietary digital channels, and two flagship stores on e-commerce platforms in China.
Moreover, in August this year, Ingka Investments announced an investment in plastic recycling company Re-Mo Environmental Protection, marking Ingka Group's first circular economy investment in China.
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