(Yicai Global) Sept. 30 -- Tencent Holdings has completed its biggest share buyback of HKD19.9 billion (USD2.5 billion), marking the largest for Hong Kong-listed companies in 2022, amid the Chinese internet giant's poor stock market performance.

Tencent repurchased its own equity for 28 consecutive trading days, setting a record of the highest expenditures when comparing this year to any year before, The Paper reported, citing Wind data.

The historical move coincides with major stockholders' share sales and the Chinese firm's dismal capital market performance. Prosus, a Dutch investor in firms such as Trip.Com and Codeacademy, and its parent Naspers, a South African multimedia holding company, have been selling their holdings of Tencent this year.

The latest repurchase was on Sept. 28 when Tencent bought back nearly 1.3 million units worth about HKD350 million (USD44.6 million), the Shenzhen-based game and social media platform developer said in a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Multiple analysts said the move was normal. Tencent's actions were not directly related to the substantial shareholders' transfers, Ma Tianyi, chief analyst of communications at Minsheng Securities. When a company's stock price is low, they tend to invest in their own equity, Ma explained.

Tencent is coping with the current investing environment, another investment banking professional said. The move will not prominently influence the tech firm's share price on the secondary market, the source added.

Tencent said on June 27 that Prosus and Naspers will kick off a long-term buyback program to fund their own share buybacks by selling Tencent stock. Naspers predicted that the average number of Tencent shares sold every day will not exceed 3 to 5 percent of its average daily trading volume.

On Sept. 8, Prosus sold about 1.1 million Tencent shares to cut its shareholding ratio to almost 28 percent.

Tencent’s Hong Kong-traded equity price [HKG: 0700] slid 0.7 percent to close at HKD268.40 (USD34.20). The stock price is more than 40 percent down this year.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi