JD.com says in preliminary stages of evaluating a bid
Elliott39;s 62 pence per share proposal rejected
Shares jump as much as 38 to 64.9 pence

LONDON, Feb 19 Reuters Currys shares soared on Monday after Chinese online retailer JD.com joined U.S. activist investor Elliott Advisors in a battle to buy the British electricals group, which has already rejected Elliott39;s opening bid of 880 million.

Currys stock jumped as much as 38 after JD.com confirmed it was interested in the retailer that sells fridges, washing machines, computers and other electrical goods across Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.

Currys on Saturday rejected Elliott39;s possible cash offer of 62 pence per share, a 700 million pounds 883 million proposal it said significantly undervalued the company.

Elliott said it was considering another proposal.

Analysts speculated that Currys39; low valuation had triggered the interest.

The group has struggled to grow over the last two years as sales fell back after spiking in the pandemic and high inflation squeezed consumer incomes.

Before the interest was made public, Currys shares had lost 54 of their value in the last two years.

That helped attract JD.com, one of China39;s leading ecommerce giants and the country39;s top electronics retailer, even though Currys still makes twothirds of its sales from stores.

Currys has around a quarter of Britain39;s 20 billion pound electricals market, making 5.1 billion pounds of sales in the UK…