On January 1, 2025, Alibaba Group Holding Limited (Alibaba) announced that its subsidiaries and an investment vehicle wholly-owned by New Retail Strategic Opportunities Fund, L.P. entered into a sale and purchase agreement with the relevant purchaser on December 31, 2024, to sell all their shares in Sun Art Retail Group Limited (Sun Art), representing approximately 78.70% of the total number of shares of Sun Art in issue as at the date of such announcement. As a result of the sale transaction, the sellers will be entitled to receive a maximum amount of approximately HK$13.138 billion.

Sun Art is a company with limited liability, whose shares are currently listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (Stock Code: 6808). The principal businesses of Sun Art are the operation of brick-and-mortar stores and online sales channels, with a coverage of more than 200 cities nationwide and ownership of more than 120 properties in Mainland China.

Fangda as PRC counsel advised Alibaba on this sale transaction from a PRC law perspective. This follows another sale transaction represented by Fangda as Alibaba’s deal counsel whereby Alibaba sold Intime Retail in the past month. The Fangda M&A team was led by partner Norman Zhong, project team includes Zhang Hao (partner), Zhang Yixin and Crystal Liu; the Fangda antitrust team includes Caroline Huang (partner) and Carl An.