Prosus’s Stake in Tencent Falls Below 26% as Selloff Continues
(Bloomberg) -- Prosus NV continued its selloff of Tencent Holdings Ltd., bringing its stake in the Chinese internet giant to under 26%.
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The Amsterdam-listed tech investor sold 789,600 ordinary shares of Tencent on Tuesday, lowering its holding to 25.99%, it said in a regulatory filing. Prosus bought its own shares worth €185 million ($203 million) between April 17 and April 21 as part of a repurchase program, according to the statement.
Prosus, an early investor in Tencent through its Cape Town-based parent Naspers Ltd., first started its campaign to reduce its holdings in mid-2022 as a way to fund the buyback. The selloff is an open-ended process and Chief Executive Officer Bob van Dijk has said that trades are being executed in small chunks of between 3% to 5% of daily volumes.
Prosus deposited an additional 96 million Tencent shares, or about 1% of the company, in Hong Kong’s clearing and settlement system this month, typically a precursor to offload stock. The Dutch firm has a regulatory requirement to disclose its interest in the Chinese company every time it decreases by a full percentage point.
Prosus has cut its stake in Tencent from 29% in June 2022 in a move that could help it to bridge the gap between its market value and the value of the assets it holds.
Prosus shares were down 1.1% in Amsterdam while parent Naspers declined 0.3% Tuesday in Johannesburg.
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