HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Lianhua Supermarket Holdings Co Ltd 0980.HK on Monday said shareholder Shanghai Yiguo E-Commerce Co Ltd would sell an 18 percent stake in supermarket chain operator to a unit of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA.N.
Lianhua said Shanghai Yiguo would transfer 201.53 million domestic shares to Alibaba (China) Technology Co Ltd. It did not provide a value.
Based on Lianhua’s stock price as of Monday afternoon trade, the deal could be worth HK$782 million ($100.33 million), Reuters calculations showed.
Shanghai Yiguo also agreed to sell 22.39 million shares, or about 2 percent of Lianhua, to Bailian Group Co Ltd 600827.SS, Lianhua said in a filing to the Hong Kong bourse.
In February, Alibaba formed a strategic partnership with Bailian Group, the largest retailer by store numbers to join the e-commerce giant’s drive to use big data to improve and profit from brick-and-mortar sales. [nL4N1G51OL]
Trading in Lianhua shares, which was suspended late on Monday morning, resumed in afternoon trade. The share price surged over 30 percent to its highest since September 2015 at HK$4.21 prior to the trading halt. The stock trimmed gains when trade resumed but was still up 23.5 percent at HK$3.89.
($1 = 7.7943 Hong Kong dollars)
Reporting by Donny Kwok
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