Jinwu Financial News | According to Haitong International Research, on November 14, Alibaba (09988) submitted 13F disclosure documents to the US Securities Regulatory Commission. As of September 30, the Xiaopeng Motor (09868) ADS held by Ali increased sharply from 6.65 million shares on June 30 to 31.309 million shares of ADS shares.
The market initially interpreted this change as Alibaba's significant increase in Xiaopeng Motor's holdings in Q3. However, the bank believes this is a misinterpretation of the market. As a strategic investor in Xiaopeng Motor, Ali itself holds Xiaopeng's common shares, and the increase in ADS may be due to the conversion of common shares to ADS. According to the disclosure requirements of the 13F document, it is only necessary to report US stock holdings, so the increase in the number of ADS may be due to Ali converting common stock to ADS in order to trade more easily in the US market. Combined with Ali's recent strategic adjustments and the trend of disposing of non-core assets, this move may be preparing for potential future holdings reductions.
As of the end of Q3, Ali still held 31.309 million shares of Xiaopeng Ads. The scale of the reduction was similar to the previous two, so the bank believes it is more likely that it will continue to reduce its holdings in the future. This series of transaction actions is closely related to the major strategic adjustments that Ali will implement starting in 2023, including “1+6+N” organizational structure changes and executive changes. The bank believes that Ali's holdings reduction in Xiaopeng is not due to a change in views on its future prospects, but is part of a strategic adjustment aimed at clearly distinguishing between core and non-core businesses and focusing on the two main businesses of e-commerce and cloud computing. The continued reduction in Xiaopeng's holdings is a reflection of Ali's accelerated divestment of non-core assets and optimization of its business structure.
