Tencent invests in Chinese reviews website Dianping

Tencent Holdings (0700.HKG) bought about a 20% stake in Dianping Holdings, the operator of a customer reviews website often compared to US-based Yelp, Bloomberg reported, citing a statement by Tencent on Wednesday. The acquisition will strengthen Tencent’s location-based services, allowing Asia’s largest Internet company to tap into Dianping’s almost 100 million monthly active users who access the website’s reviews and discounts for food and entertainment. The Shenzhen-based Tencent may invest as much as $500 million in Dianping, Sina.com reported on February 17th, without citing the source of the information.