Tencent Plans to Buy a Stake in Yonghui Superstores -Shanghai Filing

Tencent Holdings Co. (0700.HK) plans to buy a stake in supermarket operator Yonghui Superstores Co. (601933.SH), as the Chinese tech and social-media giant pushes into the offline retail market.

Yonghui Superstores said in a filing on the Shanghai stock exchange late Monday that a unit of Tencent is in talks to buy a 5% stake in the operator of hypermarkets and supermarkets. The internet giant also plans to buy a 15% stake in the supply chain and logistics unit of Yonghui Superstore via a capital injection, it said, adding that details of Tencent's potential investments remain under discussion.

Tencent's move into offline retail market comes after major rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in November announced a plan to pay HK$22.4 billion ($2.87 billion) for a major stake in China's top hypermart operator Sun Art Retail Group Ltd. (6808.HK)

Yonghui Superstores's shares remain suspended from trading after a halt on December 8 as the stock jumped its daily limit of 10% on speculations of Tencent's possible investment. Tencent couldn't be immediately reached for comments.

Write to Joanne Chiu at joanne.chiu@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 11, 2017 19:30 ET (00:30 GMT)