Prosus sells entire stake in China’s Trip.com

INTERNET investing company Prosus has sold its entire stake in online travel agency Trip.com in a US$743 million block trade, sources said, becoming the latest international investor to exit a Chinese tech company.

Prosus sold 14.5 million shares in Trip.com at US$51.40 each in a block trade launched on Tuesday (Sep 24) in the US, terms of the deal showed.

Prosus had been gradually selling shares over the summer, the sources noted, asking not to be identified as the information is not public.

A spokesperson for Prosus confirmed the sale and said it reflects the company’s “active approach to portfolio management”. Trip.com did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

The exit comes about a month after Walmart unwound its eight-year partnership with Chinese e-commerce company JD.com, selling its entire holding for US$3.6 billion.

China’s stock market has been hit by deflationary pressures, an entrenched real-estate crisis and international investors’ loss of confidence in Beijing.

Chinese and Hong Kong stocks rallied on Tuesday, after a wide-ranging stimulus package from China to revive growth in the world’s second-largest economy. 

Prosus and affiliate Naspers have also been selling down their stake in Chinese games giant Tencent.

Naspers, which began more than a century ago as a South African newspaper business, invested US$34 million for nearly half of Tencent in 2001, in what became a successful investment. BLOOMBERG