The Chinese company said in a statement late Wednesday it had signed a deal with Ceconomy, the parent company of two major retailers, MediaMarkt and Saturn.

The retailers have a network of more than 1,000 electronics stores, many of them in Germany but also in several other European countries, as well as online sales platforms. The two chains have some 50,000 employees.

Ceconomy said in a statement that its management intends to recommend that shareholders accept the offer.

"This partnership with Ceconomy will build Europe's leading next-generation consumer electronics platform," said Sandy Xu, CEO of JD.com, which competes with the likes of Alibaba and Temu.

The two sides said JD.com is offering Ceconomy shareholders 4.60 euros per share, a hefty premium over the average share price in the last three months, meaning the Chinese group will pay around 2.2 billion euros (2.5 billion dollars) for the acquisition.

Ceconomy's shares, which have risen nearly 70 percent this year, were up almost two percent in Frankfurt Thursday after news of the deal.

JD.com already has operations in Europe, including through an online retailer called Ochama. But taking over Ceconomy would greatly expand its presence on the continent.

Previous attempts by Chinese companies to take over, or take a stake in, German businesses have sometimes run into opposition, with some deals blocked on national security grounds in recent years.

Chinese online giants have also run into problems with the European Union. The EU this week accused Chinese-founded online shopping giant Temu on of breaking the bloc's digital rules by not "properly" assessing the risks of illegal products.

Last month it said AliExpress must do more to protect consumers from illegal sales, potentially opening the way for the online retailer to face a fine.

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