(Sept 25): Internet investing firm Prosus NV has fully cut its stake in Chinese online travel agency company Trip.com in a US$743 million (RM3.08 billion) block trade, according to people familiar with the matter, becoming the latest international investor to exit a Chinese tech company.

Prosus sold 14.5 million shares in Trip.com at US$51.40 each in a block trade launched on Tuesday night in the US, terms of the deal showed. That deal marks Prosus’ final exit from the company after it had been gradually selling shares over the summer, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public.

A representative of Prosus declined to comment, while Trip.com didn’t immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

Prosus’ sale of its stake in Trip.com comes about a month after Walmart Inc unwound its eight-year partnership with Chinese e-commerce company JD.com Inc, selling its entire holding for US$3.6 billion.

Chinese and Hong Kong stocks rallied on Tuesday after a wide-ranging stimulus package from China to revive growth in the world’s second-largest economy. The country’s stock market has been beleaguered by deflationary pressures, an entrenched real estate crisis and international investors’ loss of confidence in Beijing.

Prosus and affiliate Naspers Ltd have also been selling down their stake in Chinese games giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. Naspers, which began more than a century ago as a South African newspaper business, invested US$34 million for nearly half of Tencent in 2001 in what became one of the most successful investments ever.

Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee