BEIJING (Reuters) – China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Wednesday it has agreed to sell its majority stake in supermarket chain Sun Art Retail Group to Chinese private equity firm DCP Capital for HK$12.298 billion ($1.58 billion).
The 78.7% stake represents holdings held by Alibaba subsidiaries, according to a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Alibaba paid $3.6 billion for a controlling stake in Sun Art in 2020 in hopes of further leveraging its digital presence to support hundreds of Sun Art supermarkets in China.
The disposal of the stake comes after an 85% jump in Sun Art shares in Hong Kong in the past year, which easily beat a rise of around 20% in the main Hang Seng Index.
The e-commerce giant is also selling its Chinese department store unit Intime even if it is booking a loss from the deal.
The share sales are part of Alibaba's reorganization of its business portfolio to focus on its core e-commerce operations.
($1 = 7.7677 Hong Kong dollars)
(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)