Alibaba has completed its latest planned reduction of its stake in Xpeng, allowing the stake to fall to less than 5 percent.
According to an announcement on the Hong Kong stock exchange, Alibaba’s Taobao China sold 33 million American Depositary Shares (ADSs) of Xpeng on March 22. Each ADS represents two Xpeng Class A ordinary shares, with an average price per ordinary share in the transaction of about $4.76. Alibaba cashed out $314 million from the sale.
Prior to the reduction, Alibaba held 141,918,464 ordinary shares of Xpeng, representing a 9.23 percent stake. Following the completion of the reduction, Alibaba’s ownership of Xpeng ordinary shares decreased to 75,918,464 shares, or 4.94 percent.
Alibaba acquired these shares in a September 2019 Pre-IPO investment, according to an SEC filing on March 20.
The reduction is part of Alibaba’s strategic realignment as it reduces its non-e-commerce related businesses. Xpeng stated that the reduction does not reflect a change in Alibaba’s attitude toward Xpeng’s business and development prospects and will have little impact on its business.
Xpeng emphasized that the two companies will continue to cooperate in research and development, marketing, and service systems. Alibaba and Alibaba Cloud remain among Xpeng’s most important strategic partners.
