Alibaba-owned Sun Art suspends trading in Hong Kong, sparking speculation about a divestiture

China’s largest hypermarket operator suspended trading in its Hong Kong-listed shares from Friday pending an announcement of mergers and acquisitions, fueling speculation that Alibaba Group Holding may sell its controlling shares.

Alibaba took control of Sun Art Retail Group from the wealthy French Mulliez family for HKD28 billion ($3.6 billion) in October 2020, as the e-commerce giant sought to combine online shopping and offline hypermarkets under “new retail model”..

Sun Art shares were last trading at HK$1.79, down about 78% from the per-share price of about HK$8.1 that Alibaba paid at the time of the investment. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Sun Art did not provide details about potential acquisitions or mergers in its stock filings. The company declined to comment further. Alibaba did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Alibaba office building in Beijing. Photo: Reuters