How Tencent Aims To Dodge China's Tech Crackdown

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  • China's campaign to rein in rival giants like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA and Meituan MPNGY has prompted Tencent Holdings TCEHY to adopt a more subtle investment strategy by focusing on overseas expansion, Financial Times reports.

  • As it navigates a murky regulatory landscape at home, Tencent is expanding abroad, with 44 deals in 2021, up from 17 in 2020, across industries like gaming, e-commerce, health care and fintech. 

  • Tencent hired aggressively in Singapore to ride the southeast Asian tech wave. 

  • Related Content: Read What Stifel Thinks Of Tencent's Stake Divestment In JD

  • Tencent's largest shareholder, Prosus, just raised $5.25 billion of new debt last week for purposes "including acquisitions and investments." 

  • Tencent increased its stake in Finnish mobile game company Supercell in the past weeks and invested in Monzo, the British online bank. 

  • "Going forward, we expect [Tencent] to invest less in platform companies to avoid the impression of forming [alliances] through investments, which is seen as problematic under China's anti-monopoly focus," said Bo Pei, of US Tiger Securities. 

  • Tencent’s investments in 2021 rose to a record 270 from 174 the prior year, but there are signs of its outlays beginning to slow. 

  • In the fourth quarter, Tencent’s China deals totaled just one-third of the number done in the first quarter. 

  • Several venture capitalists admitted that Tencent had recently asked to leave its name off the press releases that start-ups issue to tout new funding rounds, pointing to the recent fundraisings for product design tool Lanhu and enterprise software provider XSKY. 

  • Tencent denied there had been any change to its investment strategy. 

  • Price Action: TCEHY shares were up 3.12% at $57.74 midday Wednesday.

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