On the first trading day of the year, the market performance was sluggish.

Due to the Shareholding reduction by Alibaba, SUNART RETAIL's stock fell over 29% at one point, and the latest drop is 21.77%, priced at HKD 1.94 per share, with a total Market Cap of HKD 18.507 billion.

In 2024, SUNART RETAIL's stock price increased nearly 105% for the entire year, with a low of HKD 0.74 per share and a high of HKD 2.63 per share.

Alibaba sold off at a discount.

On the evening of January 1, Alibaba announced that its subsidiaries and New Retail entered into an agreement with Dehong Capital to sell all their holdings in SUNART RETAIL, totaling approximately 78.7% of SUNART RETAIL's issued shares.

According to the agreement, Alibaba's subsidiaries and New Retail will have the right to receive a maximum amount of about HKD 13.138 billion for the shares to be sold, equivalent to HKD 1.75 per share, representing a discount of about 9.8% compared to the latest stock price of HKD 1.94 per share.

In 2017, Alibaba first invested in SUNART RETAIL, spending approximately $2.88 billion (about HK$22.4 billion) to acquire 36.16% of its shares, becoming its second-largest Shareholder.

In 2020, Alibaba continued to increase its Shareholding, spending HK$28 billion to raise its shareholding ratio to approximately 72%. As a result, SUNART RETAIL became a consolidated subsidiary of Alibaba.

In October 2024, SUNART RETAIL announced to the market that there was a buyer interested in acquiring it.

On the evening of January 1, 2025, the Trade of Alibaba's share sales was finalized. It is noteworthy that if the acquirer obtains at least 90% of the offered shares, they intend to privatize SUNART RETAIL and revoke its listing status.

This sale is part of Alibaba's strategy to lighten its load, gradually divest non-core Assets, and focus its efforts on core Business.

In the announcement, Alibaba stated that the sale of SUNART RETAIL is a good opportunity for the Alibaba Group to monetize its non-core Assets. Alibaba will continue to focus on its core Business and enhance Shareholder returns.

After the completion of this sale, Alibaba stated that it would no longer Hold any shares in SUNART RETAIL, and it will no longer be a subsidiary of Alibaba.

Alibaba plans to use the funds obtained from the sale for Business development, Shareholder returns, and general corporate purposes.

The Market Cap once exceeded 100 billion Hong Kong dollars.

According to the information, SUNART RETAIL's main Business is the Operation of offline physical stores and online sales channels, selling Commodities mainly focused on fresh products, fast-moving consumer goods, textiles, electrical equipment, and general Commodities.

SUNART RETAIL operates large stores, medium-sized supermarkets, and membership store businesses under brands including RT-Mart, RT-Mart Super, and M Membership Store.

As of September 30, 2024, SUNART RETAIL has a total of 466 large stores, 30 medium-sized supermarkets, and 6 membership stores.

In the past, SUNART RETAIL was also incredibly prosperous. At its peak in 2020, the company's stock price once reached HKD 12.99 per share, and its total Market Cap once exceeded HKD 100 billion.

However, at present, although SUNART RETAIL's profitability has improved somewhat, the overall outlook is not optimistic.

In the first half of the 2025 fiscal year (ending September 30, 2024), SUNART RETAIL's revenue was 34.708 billion yuan, with a Net income of 0.186 billion yuan, compared to a loss of 0.359 billion yuan in the same period last year, achieving a turnaround.

In the 2024 fiscal year (ending March 31, 2024), SUNART RETAIL achieved revenue of 72.567 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 13.3%, with a Net income loss of 1.605 billion yuan, and the loss expanded by 1.714 billion yuan compared to the previous year.

To improve performance, SUNART RETAIL is undergoing a significant transformation, not only closing several hypermarket stores but also continuously adjusting its Commodity structure, increasing efforts to develop its own brand products, and enhancing the proportion of differentiated Commodities.

Now that Alibaba has turned away, it remains uncertain whether SUNART RETAIL will successfully transform and achieve new growth in the future.