(Yicai Global) March 8 -- Vipshop Holdings has confirmed that tech giant Tencent Holdings increased has its stake in the Chinese e-commerce operator to 8.7 percent.

Shenzhen-based Tencent bought 5.8 million American depositary shares in the open market from Feb. 27 through March 6, online news outlet Sina Tech reported, citing Vipshop as saying yesterday. The weighted average price of the shares was USD7.5, or USD43.4 million in total, according to documents published by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

Shares in Vipshop [NYSE:VIPS] spiked yesterday to USD8.14 before finishing at USD7.58, or 1.81 percent lower than the previous day's close.

Tencent, Vipshop and JD.Com, one of China's biggest e-commerce platforms, struck a deal in December 2017 that would see Tencent and JD.Com inject USD863 million in cash into Vipshop, a move that a Bloomberg study expects will help the target acquire more mid- and long-term customers and control marketing expenses.

Tencent also bought 5.8 million Vipshop shares to take its stake to 7.8 percent late last year, according to a document published by the SEC on Dec. 22. It is the second-largest shareholder behind Chief Executive Shen Ya, who holds 12.7 percent. JD.Com owns 5.5 percent.

The target's revenue rose 8.1 percent to USD3.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018, using not generally accepted accounting principles. Net profit jumped 35 percent to USD133 million, largely thanks to new customers and traffic from Tencent and JD.Com.

Editor: James Boynton