China’s Tencent takes 5% stake in Tesla
Investment group becomes fifth largest shareholder in US electric carmaker
Chinese investment group Tencent Holdings — which is involved in a range of ventures from social media and e-commerce to mobile games — has revealed its latest holding: a stake in US electric carmaker Tesla.
Tencent said in a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday that it holds 8,167,544 shares in Elon Musk’s Tesla, translating to a 5 per cent stake in the company. The move makes it Tesla’s fifth-largest shareholder, behind others including Mr Musk himself, according to Bloomberg data.
Tencent, along with Chinese peers Baidu and Alibaba, is a prolific dealmaker, and one of the most highly valued emerging market stocks.
Tesla shares were up 2.5 per cent in pre-market trading following the news.
The reporting of Tencent’s stake comes after Tesla turned to Wall Street in search of a $1bn cash injection as it seeks a bigger financial cushion for the forthcoming launch of its mass-market Model 3 later this year.
Mr Musk — whose other ventures include solar-energy company SolarCity, which has since been acquired by Tesla, as well as SpaceX, which specialises in space travel — has said that the ambitious plan to launch the first mass-market electric vehicle later this year would put Tesla’s finances “close to the edge”.