Electronics retailer Suning.com announced a $2.3 billion share sale that will hand over nearly a quarter of the company to state-controlled entities, amounting to a state-led bailout for a former retail pioneer that has fallen on hard times, reported Caixin.
The reshuffle will see four of the five largest shareholders in publicly listed Suning.com sell a combined 23% of the company’s shares to two state-owned investment bodies in Shenzhen for RMB 14.8 billion ($2.3 billion), according to a filing to Shenzhen Stock Exchange Sunday.
Shenzhen International Holding and Shenzhen Kunpeng Equity Investment Management, both under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the Shenzhen government, will acquire 8% and 15% of the listed company’s shares, respectively, for RMB 5.2 billion and RMB 9.7 billion. The transactions are based on a share price of 6.92 yuan per share, representing the average level over the past 60 trading days.
The series of sell-downs will leave Taobao (China) Software, a unit of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, as the company’s largest shareholder with a 19.99% stake, reported Caixin.