Chinese clothing firm Dalian Dayang to buy courier YTO Express for $2.7 billion

Chinese clothing maker Dalian Dayang Trands Co Ltd has agreed to buy Alibaba-backed courier company YTO Express for 17.5 billion yuan ($2.7 billion).

Dayang Trands said in an exchange filing on Tuesday it would buy YTO Express through an asset swap and share issue, resulting in a backdoor listing on the Shanghai bourse for the courier company.

"The company hopes to enter the courier sector by injecting good-quality assets in the delivery business via this transaction," Dayang Trands said in the filing.

The asset swap will involve Dayang Trands transferring its assets to YTO Express' shareholders. As a result of the transaction, the shareholders will ultimately own Dayang Trands.

China's mostly privately held express delivery firms are eyeing mergers and listings to help cope with cut-throat competition and growing investment demands amid the country's e-commerce boom, led by giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

The express delivery sector grew around 50 percent each year between 2010 and 2014, and handled 14 billion parcels last year, data from the State Post Bureau showed.

In May last year, Alibaba Group and Yunfeng Capital, a fund backed by Alibaba's founder Jack Ma, announced a strategic investment in YTO Express.

In December, Chinese delivery firm Shentong (STO) Express closed a 16.9 billion yuan reverse takeover deal with a Shenzhen-traded valve maker, a fast track way of becoming the first major express parcel service to be publicly listed.

Tuesday's announcement came after China's markets closed. Trading in Dayang Trands' shares remain suspended after a halt since early January.