Shares of Miniso slump on plans to buy stake in Yonghui Superstores

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Shares of Miniso Group Holding plunged as much as 39.2% to HK$20 ($2.57) on Tuesday after the company said it would take a stake in embattled Chinese supermarket operator Yonghui Superstores.

The lifestyle products retailer’s shares dived to the lowest since December 2022, on track for the biggest one-day percentage drop since its debut in July 2022, and was the top percentage loser on the Hong Kong bourse. That compared to a 2.1% rise in the benchmark Hang Seng Index.

Miniso said it would take up a 29.4% stake in Yonghui for 6.3 billion yuan ($893.05 million) and will buy the shares from units of Singapore-listed DFI Retail Group and Chinese e-commerce giant JD (NASDAQ:JD).com at 2.35 yuan ($0.33) apiece, or a 3.1% premium to Yonghui’s closing price on Sept. 20.

Shares of Yonghui listed in Shanghai jumped 10.2% to 2.48 yuan, the highest since Aug. 12.

Yonghui has logged three years of net losses, reflecting mounting the costs of closing stores.

($1 = 7.7891 Hong Kong dollars)

($1 = 7.0569 Chinese yuan renminbi)