(Yicai Global) Aug. 11 -- GIC Private, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, has further reduced its stake in China’s biggest chip foundry, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation.

GIC sold 2.8 million of SMIC’s Shanghai-listed stock on Aug. 4, shaving its holding to about 4.9 percent from 5.05 percent, the chipmaker said yesterday, without giving a reason for the sale. Based on the stock’s closing price of CNY63.95 (USD9.86) on the day, GIC cashed out CNY179 million (USD27.6 million).

GIC was Shanghai-based SMIC’s fifth-largest shareholder at the end of March, owning more than 110 million of its Chinese mainland shares. But SMIC’s statement showed that the fund held about 97.8 million before the Aug. 4 sale, meaning it had already sold shares since July 16, when they were unlocked following SMIC’s first year on Shanghai’s Star Market.

Some 2.7 million of SMIC’s shares traded at CNY62.17 each on Aug. 9, 2.9 percent lower than the closing price that day, with a turnover of CNY168 million, according to the bourse’s website. SMIC has not yet revealed which shareholder sold.

SMIC [SHA:688981] closed 1.3 percent lower in Shanghai today at CNY61.51. Its Hong Kong-listed shares [HKG:0981] fell 1.9 percent to HKD25.55 (USD3.28).

SMIC went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in March 2004, and was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Star Market last July. The company has a total of 7.9 billion shares outstanding, of which 75.5 percent are traded in the Chinese mainland and 24.5 percent are listed in Hong Kong.

The company posted a record USD1.3 billion in revenue in the second quarter of this year, up 43 percent from a year earlier, thanks to increased prices and sales of wafers. Net profit soared five-fold to USD688 million.

Editor: Futura Costaglione