Alibaba, Jiangsu Government Led Consortium Close To Suning.com Stake Deal: Bloomberg

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA and the Jiangsu provincial government-led consortium are nearing a deal to acquire a stake in the retail arm of Chinese billionaire Zhang Jindong’s Suning empire, Bloomberg reports.
Zhang will no longer have control of the company after the deal.
Suning.com’s shares came to a halt on June 16, pending a significant matter announcement.
The stock tumbled to an almost eight-year low in Shenzhen after a Beijing court froze 3 billion yuan ($464 million) worth of shares held by Zhang. The amount represented 5.8% of Suning.com. Creditors agreed to extend a 2.89 billion yuan bond for Suning Appliance Group Co., owned by Zhang and fellow co-founder Bu Yang.
State-backed investment is likely to relieve liquidity tightness aggravated by Suning’s links to China Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted property developer.
Zhang waived his right to a 20 billion yuan payment from Evergrande in September, putting pressure on Suning’s cash flow.
Price action: BABA shares traded lower by 1.31% at $225.6 in the premarket session on the last check Tuesday.