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Chinese internet giant Tencent has increased its stake in ride-hailing firm Didi, sending the shares of the U.S.-listed company up more than 8% on Wednesday.
However, shares of Didi were down around 5% in pre-market trade on Thursday.
Tencent added about 1.78 million Class A Ordinary shares at the end of last year, according to a regulatory filing published Wednesday. That has brought Tencent’s stake in Didi to 7.4% as of Dec. 31, up from 6.8% at the time of the ride-hailing firm’s disastrous initial public offering in June.
Didi is a politically charged company at the moment, having reportedly gone ahead with a U.S. listing despite concerns from regulators. Days after its IPO, China’s cyberspace regulator opened a cybersecurity review into the tech firm. Didi’s shares have lost nearly 70% of their value from their IPO price.
In December, Didi said it would delist from the New York Stock Exchange and make plans to go public in Hong Kong instead.
Tencent’s growing share in Didi also stands in contrast to its recent decisions to pare back stakes in companies. Last month, Tencent cut its stake in Singapore-based gaming and e-commerce firm Sea, and in December, the internet giant said it would give most of its shares in online retailer JD.com away to shareholders. Tencent is a prolific investor in companies across the world and in China.
Those moves came after months of regulatory tightening in China in which Beijing issued new anti-monopoly rules and introduced regulations in areas from data protection to the governing of algorithms.
