Alibaba slashes its 11.3% stake in SingPost by more than half, ceases to be substantial shareholder
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Alibaba had been SingPost’s second-largest shareholder with 255.1 million shares before the sale.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Follow topic:
- Alibaba sold 151.3 million SingPost shares for $64.4 million, reducing its stake from 11.3% to 4.6% and ceasing to be a major shareholder.
- This sale occurs amid SingPost's restructuring, involving divestment of non-core assets like shophouses and its Australian logistics business (FMH).
- SingPost reported a 40% drop in underlying net profit to $24.8 million, despite overall net profit tripling due to the FMH sale.
AI generated
SINGAPORE – Alibaba Investment has sold over 151 million Singapore Post shares in a move that slashes its stake in the Singapore postal services provider by more than half.
The subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba sold 151.3 million shares in SingPost for $64.4 million, or 42.6 cents apiece, in an off-market deal, according to an exchange filing after the market closed on Sept 9.
Shares of SingPost fell after the news, with the stock down 1.1 per cent or 0.5 cent to 44.5 cents as at the midday trading break on Sept 10. The shares had touched a three-year high of 65.5 cents in July.
The sale reduces Alibaba’s stake in SingPost to 4.6 per cent from 11.3 per cent, meaning Alibaba is no longer a substantial shareholder.
Alibaba had been SingPost’s second-largest shareholder with 255.1 million shares before the sale, according to the Singapore company’s latest annual report.
SingPost’s single-largest shareholder is Singtel with 494 million shares, or a 22 per cent stake.
Alibaba first invested in SingPost in 2014, buying a 10.3 per cent stake for $312.5 million, or $1.42 apiece, as it moved to expand its international e-commerce operations in the Asia-Pacific.
In 2016, Alibaba raised its SingPost stake to 14.5 per cent for around $187 million, or $1.74 per share.
In June 2024, it sold 72.5 million shares for $33.3 million, or 46 cents apiece, paring its stake to 11.3 per cent.
This was before SingPost announced in December that year that it had fired two senior executives, including its chief executive Vincent Phang, over the handling of a whistle-blower complaint. A third executive was sacked weeks later.
Alibaba’s latest sale comes amid a major restructuring at SingPost involving the divestment of its non-core assets to focus on post office services as well as to free up capital.
The company sold 10 HDB shophouses for $55.5 million in August, a month after it sold its entire freight forwarding business conducted through Famous Holdings and Rotterdam Harbour Holding for approximately $177.9 million.
In March, it also let go of its Australian logistics business, Freight Management Holdings (FMH), for A$1.02 billion (S$862 million).
Analysts said SingPost could also be looking to sell its flagship retail-commercial mixed development SingPost Centre in Paya Lebar Central.
In May, SingPost reported that its underlying net profit for the fiscal year ended March 31 fell 40 per cent to $24.8 million, with the group citing uncertain conditions within the global logistics sector. However, including the one-off gain from the sale of FMH, net profit more than tripled to $245.1 million.
