Shares of ‘China’s Goldman Sachs’ jump after Alibaba raised its stake
- CICC soared by nearly 11 per cent in first trading after Alibaba announcement
- Alibaba makes its second investment into Chinese investment bank in six months
Shares of China International Capital Corporation (CICC) recorded their biggest intraday jump in 17 months after the world’s largest e-commerce platform raised its stake to become the third-biggest shareholder in the investment bank.
CICC shares jumped as much as 11.1 per cent, and closed up 5.8 per cent, at HK$17.90.
Alibaba Group Holding, which operates the world’s biggest online shopping platform and owns South China Morning Post, yesterday announced that it had paid HK$1.8 billion (US$230 million) to enlarge its stake in the Beijing-based bank to 11.7 per cent, from roughly 5 per cent.
That puts Hangzhou-based Alibaba behind the 12 per cent stake held by games publisher and social network operator Tencent Holdings in the Hong Kong market. Central Huijin Investment Company, a unit of the Chinese government’s sovereign wealth fund, remains the largest shareholder with 55.7 per cent stake on a fully diluted basis.
Founded in 1995, CICC is China’s biggest investment bank. Sometimes dubbed China’s answer to Goldman Sachs, CICC has been responsible for underwriting several of the country’s largest initial public offerings.