The logo of Alibaba Group is seen inside the company's headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, Nov. 11, 2014. (Photo : Reuters)
Singapore's Temasek Holdings Pte and GIC Pte have purchased $1 billion worth of shares in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., as part of the $8.9 billion stocks sale by SoftBank Group Corp., currently the e-commerce giant's largest shareholder, Reuters reported.
Each of the state-owned companies bought $500 million shares in Alibaba at $74 apiece via subsidiaries.
GIC and Temasek confirmed the transaction but declined to comment on the matter, according to Reuters.
Aside from being early Alibaba stakeholders, the two groups are also investors in several tech firms.
"The purchase shows that GIC and Temasek are still confident about China's economy and the rise of e-commerce and technology in the country," CMC Markets' Margaret Yang said in a Bloomberg report.
"It's going to boost the national interest of Singapore in e-commerce in China and also in Southeast Asia," Yang added.
GIC has 60 million shares amounting to $482 million in AAC Technologies Holdings Inc., a Hong Kong-listed producer of receivers and speakers for handsets, per data gathered by Bloomberg.
The company likewise has a stake in ChinaCache International Holdings Ltd. and Cheetah Mobile Inc.
Temasek, on the other hand, has $98 million worth of shares in Tencent Holdings Ltd., the developer of WeChat.
Both Temasek and GIC also own stakes in 21Vianet Group Inc., an Internet service provider.
Despite selling $8.9 billion of shares in China's e-commerce titan, SoftBank will remain the largest shareholder of Alibaba. The Japanese group announced last week its intention to sell Alibaba shares, making it the first time in 16 years the company is selling its stake.
SoftBank made its first investment in the e-commerce group in 2000. As of March 31, 2016, the Japanese company held 32.2 percent of shares in Alibaba.
Masayoshi Son, SoftBank's chairman and CEO, will remain a board director of Alibaba, while Jack Ma, Alibaba's executive chairman, will keep his post as SoftBank's board director.
