Korea Investment Corp. divests all Alibaba stakes, unsure of investments in other Chinese tech stocks

Korea Investment Corp. divested its entire of 2.9 million shares worth $221.5 million in Alibaba Group Holding during the second quarter of this year.

The sovereign wealth fund also had mixed positions toward US-listed Chinese technology stocks at the end of June, before Beijing’s crackdown on Chinese firms began in July.

The Alibaba shares were the 25th-biggest US-listed stock KIC was holding earlier this year.

The KIC‘s stock holdings in Alibaba were reduced to zero since April as China doubled down its crackdown over China’s largest e-commerce player and its co-founder Jack Ma.

KIC’s holdings in Tencent Music Entertainment Group and TAL Education Group also decreased by 3 percent and 70 percent.

However, its holdings in internet giant Baidu rose by over 400 percent to $228.7 million during the second quarter.

KIC also increased its holdings in e-commerce firm Pinduoduo, live-streaming service provider Bilibili, and social network Weibo.

KIC was also holding $283,000-worth of shares in ride-hailing app Didi Global.

The sovereign wealth fund appears to have been spooked by Beijing’s latest crackdown as it becomes clear it is not limited to Alibaba.

After launching a cybersecurity review into Didi for its alleged data security breach in July, Chinese authorities ordered app stores to stop offering the Didi app.

Chinese regulators are also tightening data security rules to urge domestic tech firms to undergo a security review before carrying out a foreign stock listing.

Meanwhile, the KIC has been relentlessly betting bigger on US Big Tech with its top five holdings out of 741 companies being in Apple, Microsoft, Amazon.com, Google’s holding company Alphabet, and Facebook.

Its holdings in Amazon.com jumped the highest in valuation by $336.3 million to $1.2 billion, followed by Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook.