Alibaba to Sell China’s Sun Art to Buyout Firm at Big Discount

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. agreed to sell its shares in Sun Art Retail Group Ltd. to private equity firm DCP Capital, unloading another high-profile physical commerce asset at a discount to focus on its core online business.

China’s e-commerce pioneer expects gross proceeds of up to HK$12.3 billion ($1.6 billion) from selling its more than 70% holding in the chain of Costco-like hypermart stores. That’s significantly less than the $3.6 billion Alibaba paidjust to double its stake in Sun Art in 2020, and falls far short of Sun Art’s 2024 market value of about $3 billion. The Chinese ...