ALIBABA Group Holding has raised US$357.8 million by selling securities in Chinese streaming platform Bilibili, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Alibaba priced the sale of 30.85 million American depositary receipts (ADRs) at US$11.60 each, the sources said, asking not to be named as the information is private.
The pricing represents a 5.5 per cent discount to the Wednesday (Mar 20) closing price for Bilibili ADRs of US$12.28 each. The ADRs declined as much as 9.6 per cent on Thursday, before paring losses to trade around US$11.40. Alibaba posted modest gains in US trading.
Alibaba did not immediately respond to Bloomberg News’ request for comments outside of normal business hours in China.
Alibaba has been trimming its investment portfolio of late. On Wednesday, its subsidiary Taobao China Holding sold down shares of electric vehicle maker XPeng for US$317 million. It has also cut back its stake in Hong Kong-listed ride-sharing firm GogoX Holdings.
Alibaba has been seeking to refocus its vast business empire on the core retailing and cloud arms amid competitive pressures from rivals such as PDD Holdings. During an earnings conference call in February, new chief executive officer Eddie Wu pledged to increase investments in core businesses.
The e-commerce giant became Bilibili’s principal shareholder in February 2019, buying 13.6 million ordinary shares and 10 million American depositary shares through Taobao China. Alibaba further increased its shareholding in 2021, according to a filing.
Apart from direct economic interest, Alibaba was a major advertiser on Bilibili’s video-streaming site. The two firms started collaborations on content creation in 2018, according to Bilibili’s most recent annual report. BLOOMBERG
