HONG KONG (Reuters) – Walmart, JD.com’s largest shareholder, has sold its entire stake in the Chinese group, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the end of the partnership launched in 2016 highlights the slowdown in China’s e-commerce sector.
The offering of shares held by Walmart was fully subscribed and, at the high end of the proposed range, would total $3.74 billion (3.36 billion euros), the person said.
The U.S. retail giant said in a statement that the move will allow it to focus on Walmart China’s operations, as well as the Chinese unit of Sam’s Club, its warehousing subsidiary.
Walmart offered 144.5 million American depositary shares of JD.com at a price of between $24.85 and $25.85, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters, with Morgan Stanley serving as the broker-dealer for the offering.
The shares were offered at a discount of up to 11.8 percent to Tuesday’s closing price of $28.19.
Morgan Stanley did not respond to a request for comment.
On the Hong Kong stock exchange, JD.com shares fell more than 10 percent on Wednesday, with its U.S.-listed stock also down 10 percent in after-hours trading on Tuesday, after Bloomberg first reported the sale plan.
Walmart held a 5.19% stake in JD.com, according to LSEG data.
(Reporting by Kane Wu and Summer Zhen in Hong Kong, Sophie Yu in Beijing and Chandni Shah in Bangalore; by Mara Vîlcu, edited by Augustin Turpin)
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