Chinese tech and games outfit Tencent has raised $3 billion after decreasing its share in Singapore tech firm Sea Group, a holding company for ecommerce platform Shopee and Free Fire developer Garena.
As reported by Reuters, Tencent sold 14.5 million shares it held in Sea at $208 per share, reducing its stake in the company from 21.3 to 18.7 per cent. Sea’s share price fell 11.4 per cent on the tailend of the divestment news.
Following the sale, Tencent will be bound by a lock-up period, preventing the sale of additional Sea shares for the next six months.
Despite the decrease, Tencent still maintains a substantial majority share in Sea which it plans to preserve. Sea revealed that Tencent has also decreased its voting share in the company to 10 per cent.
Capital for investment
Tencent has stated that the newly acquired funds will be directed towards funding other investments and “social initiatives”.
Sea Group and Tencent have maintained a close working relationship and in 2018 Sea signed a five-year publishing agreement with Tencent to publish the latter’s mobile and PC games in Southeast Asia under its games outfit Garena, including Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
In November 2021, Sea co-led a funding round via its investment arm which raised $725 million for blockchain gaming company Forte.
