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Alibaba’s key backer Temasek trims stake, adds rivals JD.com and Pinduoduo in portfolio tweak

  • Singapore’s state investment firm trimmed Alibaba stake by US$361 million last quarter, bought more shares in Pinduoduo and created a new position in JD.com
  • Outside China, Temasek added shares of the stock-trading platform Robinhood, while selling down Uber Technologies and Coinbase Global

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A man walks past the Temasek signboard outside its head office in Singapore. Photo: AFP
Cheryl Heng
Temasek Holdings trimmed its stake in Alibaba Group Holding last quarter while the stock slumped to new lows, and added Chinese e-c0mmerce rivals Pinduoduo and JD.com to its portfolio, according to its latest 13F filing.
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The Singapore state investment firm cut its holding in Alibaba’s American depositary shares (ADS) by US$361.6 million to US$1.08 billion as the Hangzhou-based company’s value shrank by US$114 billion that quarter over concerns about regulatory crackdown in mainland China.

Temasek created a new position in JD.com worth US$12.2 million and raised its stake in Pinduoduo by US$121 million in the US market, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing late Monday.
Chinese stocks in overseas markets suffered an extended beating last quarter, as a crackdown on internet-platform operators since late June erased US$1.3 trillion in market value from MSCI China, an index tracking 740 firms worth US$2.5 trillion. The gauge slid 6.1 per cent last quarter following a 19 per cent rout in the third quarter.

Alibaba’s ADS slumped 20 per cent in the fourth quarter to as low as US$108.70 on December 3, a level not seen since April 2017. In Hong Kong, its ordinary shares hit an all-time low of HK$109.20 on December 30.

While China’s efforts to address the power of internet platforms, data privacy and income inequality are common around the world, the way that is being implemented in China “is a little more blunt and quick, and that is why it has created a lot of shocks out there,” according to Rohit Sipahimalani, Temasek’s chief investment strategist.

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“Now in that space, I would say I would expect in the next few months to have regulatory clarity, and that would shape some winners and losers out there,” he said, according to a November interview transcript posted on its website. “We will probably wait to deploy more capital till we have more regulatory clarity.”
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