(Yicai Global) Sept. 9 -- South African investment firm Naspers has reduced its equity in Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings by an additional 1 percent, after already trimming it by 2 percent this year, Securities Times reported today. The Chinese internet giant countered by repurchasing a similar amount of shares the same day, keeping its stock price steady.

Prosus has sold 1.12 million shares in Tencent, reducing its stake to 27.99 percent and remains the majority shareholder, Nasper’s internet investment unit said yesterday. The proceeds will be used to fund Nasper’s own share repurchase plan, it added.

In April, Prosus cut its stake to 28.9 percent from 30.9 percent, raising USD14.6 billion. At the time, the Amsterdam-based firm pledged not to reduce its holdings any further for the next three years.

The move is not unexpected. Shenzhen-based Tencent said on June 27 that Naspers will sell its shares in the company to raise money for its stock buyback scheme.

To shore up the share price and demonstrate its faith in the firm, Tencent repurchased 1.16 million shares yesterday for HKD352 million (USD44.9 million). The Shenzhen-based company has been on a buying spree this year and so far has bought back more than HKD10 billion (USD1.3 billion) worth of its own shares.

Tencent’s share price [HKG:0700] was trading up 1.7 percent at HKD307 (USD39) as of 12 noon China time today.

However, it would appear that Nasper is not finished yet. The Cape Town-based firm has deposited an additional 192 million shares worth nearly HKD60 billion (USD7.6 billion) in Hong Kong’s clearing and settlement system.

This is a sign that the stock is about to be offloaded. Warren Buffett's investment firm Berkshire Hathaway did the same thing earlier this month, transferring a large number of shares it holds in Chinese carmaker BYD to a settlement system at Citibank before selling them. BYD’s share price plunged at the time.

Tencent has been under pressure recently. Profit plunged 53 percent in the first half from the same period last year to CNY42 billion (USD6 billion), according to the internet giant’s latest financial report. Revenue dipped 1 percent to CNY269.5 billion (USD38.8 billion).

Editor: Kim Taylor